Analysis of Derek Thompson’s Essay, “How Headphones Changed the World

George Saunders writes about human behavior with some modern and not so modern examples. He invites the reader to imagine themselves at a party where someone is speaking into a megaphone. Soon the focus of the party becomes the topic the megaphone speaker is flooding into the party atmosphere. Saunders also talks about new broadcast,he mentions a news reporter reporting busy shopping activity at a mall during holiday season . What a surprise!

In the essay, “Blasting Music to Drown Out Reality”, by Sydney J. Harris, the author is determined that people use music as a way to, “keep reality at arm's length”. “It is not in order to hear the music, but in order that the vacuum in their minds may be soothed by the sound, so that silence does not force them into thinking about themselves or experiencing the real world of perception and sensation.” This shows how music has be used as earplugs to block away people's connection to the world around them, to silence their troubles if only for a moment. This thesis is explicit to make sure the readers can easily identify what the author's argument is going to be when they are examining

In the autobiography Deaf Again, Mark Drolsbaugh writes about his life being born hearing, growing up hard of hearing, to eventually becoming deaf. By writing this book, he helps many people view from his perspective on what it is like for someone to struggle trying to fit in the hearing society. Through his early years, his eyes were closed to the deaf world, being only taught how to live in a hearing world. Not only does the book cover his personal involvement, but it covers some important moments in deaf history. It really is eye-opening because instead of just learning about deaf culture and deaf history, someone who lived through it is actually explaining their experiences.

In Nielsen’s Music 360 study in 2014, “93% of the country’s population listens to music” with “75% of respondents (saying) they actively chose to listen to music, even ahead of watching television at 73%”. The number of people that prefer to listen to music can be considered enormous and as the population grows, so does that number. This only goes to show how music has become commonplace in our lives such that “most U.S. residents listen to roughly four hours and five minutes of audio each day” (Stutz). As the world changes and new innovations emerge however, so does how we, as consumers, enjoy music. Over the years, there has been a gradual shift from physical copies of music such as CDs to their digital counterparts. As shown in the

A century has passed since the creation of headphones, yet they have only recently come under fire. Headphones provide a way for people to listen to music, audiobooks, and podcasts privately without disrupting others around them. However, all of this private listening may soon fall on deaf ears. In Virginia Heffernan’s article “Against Headphones”, she presents an argument stating that although headphones are useful in some professions, they cause substantial hearing loss, especially in young people. The formulated argument is effective and valid, and incorporates ethos, logos, and opposing viewpoints with rebuttals.

The headphones have become common in the everyday life of everyone in a long time, and it also brings lots of arguments. In an article in The New York Times Magazine published on January 7, 2011, titled "Against Headset" by Virginia Heffernan, Heffernan is an author of New York Times, an American journalist and also, a founder of the Screens blog, which eventually became the Medium blog, said that people should resist headphones. In addition, I chose this article to analyze because I liked the way the author use her rhetorical techniques in order to convince parents of teenagers to restrict the use of their child’s headphones and how well does she use ethos to build some trusts and credibility to her audiences, how well does she provides statistic facts and reasons to convince her audience, and how well does she uses pathos to create emotion to sustain argument as well as building bridge between her audiences and she.

Headphones have been in use for over a century, yet they have only recently become a topic of debate. Headphones are a way for people to listen to music, audiobooks, or whatever they like privately without disrupting others around them. However, all of this private listening may soon be falling on deaf ears. In Virginia Heffernan’s article “Against Headphones”, she presents a valid argument stating that although headphones are useful in some professions, they are causing substantial hearing loss, especially in young people. The formulated argument effectively incorporates ethos, logos, and opposing viewpoints with rebuttals, but could be strengthened in some areas to increase effectiveness.

The impact that music has on individuals lives varies greatly from person to person and often provides a unique lifestyle to each individual. An author by the name Oliver Sacks talks about the unique cases that he has dealt with in the past in his writings. The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and “Brainworms, Sticky Music, and Catchy Tunes” from Musicophilia are two articles written by Oliver Sacks, which show the relationship that music has on the mind and how music can change how a person perceives reality. The human mind is a complex machine and yet there is something about music that transforms a person’s thought process completely.

This is why technology is a resource that must be used as an advantage, not taken away to stop distraction. Yes, technology can be a distraction, but that doesn’t mean that the entirety of the world’s population revolves around a television. There is so much more to technology than just earbuds and television. This past year of 2014 many new technologies and innovations have been unveiled; computer chips that think like human brains, underwater turbines powered to create green energy, and

In his essay “How We Listen,” Aaron Copland classifies and divides the listening process into three parts: “the sensuous place, the expressive plane, and the sheerly musical plane” (1074). I believe by this mechanical separation, Copland succeeds in discussing difficult topic, so natural that most people tend to by pass it. He uses analogy and sometimes stresses on certain situation where these planes are abused or become a cause of a problem. The main purpose for Copland to separate the listening process is for the reader to learn and study how they listen. Copland’s success in the clarification mainly because of two methods: (1) Categorizing the listening process in different parts and use an analogy to unite it to

The main claim of this article is that there will always be fear new technology and that it will damage society. An example from the article looks back at history to the invention of the radio and how people condemned it because of the harm it brought to children that listened to it, according to

For centuries, persuasive literature has used a variety of tactics to sway the audience’s thoughts. From appealing to emotion, to appealing to logic, authors have devised a way to not only change what a reader thinks, but how they think. In the article, The Argument Against Headphones, author Virginia Heffernan discusses both the advantages and disadvantages to the usage of headphones. However, she predominantly stresses the drawbacks of said usage throughout the writing. Heffernan repeatedly uses the main tactic of fear to influence how the audience thinks of headphones in a negative manner.

We at Headphones Inc. thank you for your loyalty and business to our company. It is with my regret to inform you that we have sent you the wrong pair of headphones.

As asked by the English alternative rock band Muse in their famous song “Screenager,” “Who’s so phoney and always surrounded?” This song perfectly depicts the effects of technology on America. People are engulfed by different types of technology everywhere they go and even carry around technology such as phones, laptops, and iPods. These items may seem like a blessing, but they are potentially dividing America. Every day, eight to eighteen-year-olds watch four and a half hours of TV, listen to two and a half hours of music, use the computer for an hour and a half, and spend two and a half hours on their cell phones, two hours for texting and one half hour for talking. This adds up to eleven hours dedicated on the media per day (Crawford).

The role of music in society can be best imagined when one thinks of a world without music. Music serves as a personal