The iPod as demand for action

Believeit or not, not everyone loves the iPod. While I don't count myself among thehaters, I do see how this is sort of o oxious.Tiny stickers that, when affixed to your iPod shuffle, a ounce either your desire to engage in conversation or yourwish to be left completely alone. Hey, I'm glad that you're enjoying your iPod, but I don't need to have the thingtelling me what to do.

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

[Via The Blog Herald]