Journal 6

After reading Stuart Sim, I found myself agreeing with a lot of his concerns. We do need to do something about the noise, but we can only take small steps. He pointed out some minor contributions in the UK, but the major problems lie in industry and noisy work environments. Sim pointed out the link between noise and modern corporate capitalism. I hadn't really thought about it before he brought it up and I do agree with him; however I don't feel it's a good idea for him to show too much distaste for it. I respect Sim's efforts, but I feel that many people would just be too offended by his remarks to capitalism and would no doubt ignore his wishes. That aside, his other statements were very interesting. He spoke of how even musicians are worried about increased noise. This statement reminded me of "musician's earplugs." They're a special kind of earplug that basically lowers the intensity of the noise without actually taking any of the quality away. They're great for musicians doing live performances and are a sign that there are ways that we can use our new technologies to counter the existing noise of our other technologies. There are also more effective headphones that block out external noise while you're listening to music. I'd personally recommend that anyone with an iPod should throw out those puny little headphones because what happens is that you end up competing with all the other noise and you turn up the volume to dangerous levels to counter it. Headphones that block out external noise allow you to hear the music without actually blasting it in your ears. Frequent cell phone use is just as troublesome. Some people spend entirely too much time on the phone. It's unnecessary, expensive, and of course bad for your hearing so all you need to do is have a little will-power to avoid it. With so many other things out there, the best we can do is simply turn the volume down. If you have control over it, then keep it at a reasonable level and don't listen for too long. Of course, it's easy to tell someone to keep it down if they don't seem to do it themselves. This is what I tend to see with the older generations looking down at the younger generations. Our generation gets a rush out of loud music and sometimes it's just hard to let go. It truly takes an effort to make the change. I've been working on it for the past year or so because I'm starting to worry myself, but every now and then I can't help but crank up volume.