The iPod as demand for action

Believe it or not, not everyone loves the iPod. While I don't count myself among the haters, I do see how this is sort of obnoxious. Tiny stickers that, when affixed to your iPod shuffle, announce either your desire to engage in conversation or your wish to be left completely alone. Hey, I'm glad that you're enjoying your iPod, but I don't need to have the thing telling me what to do.

Now, I understand (I think) the idea here. Typically, the act of wearing headphones in public sends a clear "leave me alone" signal. The "Talk to me" sticker would come into play if a person was open to chat despite the fact that s/he was wearing headphones (In fact, the stickers were born as a result of Marco Siebertz's senior thesis exploring the social implications of using headphones, specifically as a sign for non-communication). An interesting idea, but I still think that the same result could be achieved through other means, like eye contact, a smile or, heaven forbid, actually turing your darn iPod off for a minute or two.

[Via The Blog Herald]