While walking to the Metro today on my way to work I watched hundreds of urban denizens walking around with the noticeable iPod white headphones and it got me thinking. I started thinking about the murder of NY Times journalist David Rosenbaum, who lived here in DC. What especially got me thinking about it was that the neighborhood it occurred in, while not the same as mine, nor even that close, is in many ways similar. Here in Foggy Bottom we have quiet streets, lighted walk ways, and relatively quiet nights, at least as far as crime goes. The same could and is said about the neighborhood where Rosenbaum lived. The most recent details to emerge about this case include that Rosenberg was found wearing headphones.

The Cult of the White Headphones, they hold services at the Church of St. Jobs, caused me to think that perhaps these people, any person wearing headphones while walking in the city makes themselves nothing more than a target. This past summer there was the heartbreaking case of a young child killed in Brooklyn for his iPod, and it’s happened in other places as well. So I can only wonder, as they bumble down the street with their iPods or any other headphone based device are we just walking around oblivious with an advertisement around our necks for robbery?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my iPod, but I don’t use it when walking around, I tried it once during freshman year but I felt toolish and it just didn’t sit well with me. Now I don’t mean to sound like an alarmist or anything, the fact of the matter is if you go and wear your iPod you’ll probably be fine. But the recent death in a relatively quiet neighborhood had me thinking that maybe if he hadn’t had his headphones on, maybe if he hadn’t appeared to be ignorant of his surroundings he might not be dead. Perhaps he would have heard them coming and could have walked toward the front door of a house scaring them off, or he could have walked faster. Even still, perhaps if he seemed like he was aware and just walking around he wouldn’t even have been targeted in the first place. Of course we can only speculate, but it definatley seems plausible.

Murder and crime aside, the entire issue speaks to a different yet related trend. Why do we feel the need to walk around with these headphones on ignorant of our neighbors and society. Increasingly it seems like the iPod is coming to represent the best in technological advancement, but also a continued decline in community, at least when walking around in a city. I’ve sat in classes with students listening to their iPods, every where I go someone is listening to their music. I wonder if these people are even enjoying their music, or is it instead becoming a simple necessity, something to preoccupy ourselves with, while we ignore a world going on around us.