In lab, anyways. Actually I like iPods quite a lot, for all the same reasons that everyone else does, too. However, tedious though labwork often is, I don’t support the constant earbuddage that seems to be a feature of (let me get my biases out right now) some Youth.
Let me explain. When you are wearing your iPod (or whatever music playing device you choose (although it’s always an iPod)), I have to take an extra step to communicate with you. I have to wave my hands in front of your face to indicate that I would like to Initiate Conversation.
Then there is a pause, during which you remove the earbuds, sometimes taking the extra step of pausing the music before you do, so that my intrusion into your world doesn’t cause you to miss a single beat. Sometimes you only remove one earbud, in which case you often talk at elevated volume because in your head, the music is still playing, with the result that I end up feeling like an elderly aunt whom everyone addresses in stentorian voices.
Sometimes I come up behind you and don’t realize you’re listening to music (or audiobooks, or podcasts, or whatever), so I just start talking. Then you turn, realize that there is a Conversation Initiation Event occurring, we wait while you take one of the routes outlined in paragraph three, and then I get to repeat myself.
From your point of view, this is not a big deal. It is perhaps a ten-second delay from when I approach you to when I get to communicate. But you know what? It’s annoying. I dislike repeating myself. I don’t think that the burden should be on me to wait while you disengage from your soundtracked world.
And so, when I see you with the ubiquitous sleek white attachment, I am simply less likely to start talking with you. If I have a question, I consider whether it’s really worth the effort. For example, I no longer bother to ask how your experiments are going today. As a result, I am less informed about your experiments, and you miss an opportunity for (let me flatter myself, since hell, it’s my blog) thoughtful discussion about results, pitfalls, and troubleshooting advice.
I’m not even getting in to the whole lab safety aspect. In some labs this is a bigger deal than others. In the type of labs I work in, it’s not a big deal, other than if you’re so oblivious to your surroundings that you bump into someone carrying something delicate.
Look, I know that lots of tasks are mind-numbing, and it’s fine with me if you occasionally keep yourself going with some tunes. But when you start wearing these things routinely, they’re an effective isolation barrier, and you’re going to miss out. Unplug.
15 years ago
9 comments:
This is also one of my pet peeves, so I tend to agree with you. However, I hope you are just venting on your blog, and that you phrase this a little more gently when talking with students. :-)
What you wrote could come across like this: "When you are doing drudge work for me in my lab, please don't entertain yourself by listening to music. After all, you never know when I may unexpectedly drop by and demand instant communication. You should maintain a state of constant readiness, just in case."
You bet. Actually I don't say anything at all, but I am storing it up in my mind for future lab-running.....if I should be so lucky! Even then, probably I'll be too busy with other management issues to care about iPods (or ImplantedAntennas or whatever the technology may be by then....)
well I'd consider it a safety issue if the iPod was so loud that it was difficult to get someone's attention. so many things sound wrong before they become dangerous so I think that if you cannot hear normal speech, it is too loud. I don't mind iPods in the lab with that one rule, and I'm writing this comment on one!
Ha ha! I'm late to this conversation, but it's funny to note that I talked about this not long ago, from the other side of the ear bud, as it were.
all the best.
I do it on purpose actually- my lab didn't talk to me for four years, really and truly whole days would go by without my speaking more than twenty words to anyone- and I had to come up with something so I wouldn't go INSANE. There was also the "Sitting alone in the dark crying" experiment that I did every day for a year... pump hum? Really boring.
I agree that it can be annoying though. Most everyone in my lab will come up and lurk for a few seconds while the other person unplugs.
Wow, based on these responses I should have been more clear about my lab's atmosphere. While everyone is doing their own thing, we are still quite gabby, lots of "how's your experiment going?" and "can I borrow some solution?" and so forth. If no one were talking to each other then of course iPods would make sense. Although, at that point perhaps the lab itself would need an overhaul...Jenny, that sounds really grim!
And I do favor iPods for alone-in-dark type expts. They're just not very common in my grad lab.
grr I hate ipods too... at some point in my lab they really became a way to block out others and manage to survive through the day (not exactly a healthy atmosphere huh?). As one of the only non-wearers, it just made the atmosphere that much worse and less inviting. Fortunately, personnel turn over has helped the situation so it's a lot better now (but ipods are still annoying)
Ha. When I first read this, I imagined the lab settings I've been in, and I was thinking, man, she sounds grouchy. But as I read the comments and you talk about what your lab is like, well, wow. In that setting, I'd see it as a very isolating choice as well.
My situation is so different! My lab is usually empty, except for me. Without my iPod, I'd be oh so lonely! Although actually, we have speakers in the lab, so usually when it's just me I take the opportunity to plug into the speakers so that I can hear everything around me and be more aware of my surroundings.
When someone else does come in (an undergrad labmate, or my advisor), then I take them off even before they approach me, so that we can interact and talk. Of course, due to the lack of people around, I'm usually pretty eager to check in with whomever is visiting.
When I was working in the lab as an undergrad, we had a vacuum pump that would overheat and make this crazy noise first, so I always made sure I had at least one bud unplugged so I could be listening.
ps, adding your rss feed to my reader. which means I'll catch what you write occasionally. I don't know how people manage to read their favorite blogs daily. I can get so wrapped up in it that I forget about the Things That Must Be Done.
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