How Private Soundtracks Are Changing Public Life: The New Normal of Constant Headphone Use

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KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the bus and in the grocery store line, more and more people are keeping their AirPods in. While we work, while we walk, while we shower, even while we fall asleep — we listen. But what does constant listening do to our attention, our relationships, and the social fabric we all share? We talk about constant audio consumption and its cognitive and cultural costs. Guests: Jenny Odell, artist and critic, author of "How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy" and "Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock" Gloria Mark, Professor Emerita of Informatics, University of California, Irvine - her recent book is "Attention Span"; her Substack is called "The Future of Attention" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for KGBD Podcasts comes from Landmark College, offering a fully online graduate level
0:06.1	certificate in learning differences in neurodiversity program. Visit landmark.edu slash certificate to learn more.
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0:32.2	scaleups, online, in person and on the go. Shopify's made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month
0:39.8	trial at Shopify.com slash setup. From KQED. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. The possibility of
0:52.2	this show really begins more than 40 years ago. That's when Sony
0:56.5	introduced this new product to the United States.
1:03.8	You really feel the music with a Sony Walkman. The Sony Walkman is a tiny stereo cassette player
1:10.5	with truly incredible sound.
1:12.8	You really feel the music. You really feel it.
1:15.8	You really feel the music.
1:17.1	Put on a Walkman and see the world in a whole new light.
1:21.4	Sony Walkman.
1:22.4	The Walkman from Sony, the one and only.
1:26.0	My apologies, you're now all going to have that stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
1:29.3	But the Walkman brought truly portable audio to the masses.
1:33.3	And from that point forward, if you wanted to, you could create a private audio world,
1:38.3	listening to in excess on the bus or meditation in the doctor's office or death metal while you gardened.
1:45.0	But what was once an occasional thing or something only for your commute or a way to pass time on a run has become ubiquitous.
	...

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