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I worry about the safety element of this. I'm not sure that having people walking around completely oblivious to their environments is a good thing. In a multi

I worry about the safety element of this. I'm not sure that having people walking around completely oblivious to their environments is a good thing. In a multiple of ways: you become disconnected from nature and closed off to environments, and you also reduce safety because you don't know what is going on around you (high % of population live in cities). Not a uniquely Apple problem though, I suppose.

franzb 8d ago
AirPods and other ANC earphones have been around for ages, nothing new.
matsemann 8d ago
People drive cars every day, isolated in a box with windows rolled up, playing music or radio, not being able to hear what's going on around them. So I don't buy the safety argument of noise canceling headphones being dangerous.
- pipnonsense 8d ago
  Well, that’s exactly why I worry when walking around with noise canceling phones. Because all those people driving cars oblivious to their surroundings
  - matsemann 8d ago
    Yeah, I get your point, I jusr don't think the solution is to police pedestrians. I'll stop wearing noise canceling headphones in the city the day cars stop being loud, and when the drivers of those cars drive with no music and their windows rolled down ;)
- stouset 8d ago
  If we’re going there, cars are a leading cause of death and the leading cause of death for children and young adults. That said, the masses have had noise cancelling earbuds for years at this point and while there definitely are cases of people getting hurt or killed from being unaware of their surroundings, it’s not really been that big a deal.
  - juiceland 8d ago
    >cars are a leading cause of death and the leading cause of death for children and young adults. Firearms have been the leading cause of death for people ages 1-19 since 2020. [0]https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2201761 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2201761
    - stouset 8d ago
      How utterly depressing.
    - simmschi 8d ago
      In the USA.
    - lotsofpulp 8d ago
      I wonder if that stat is true if removing the kids in gangs from the data. One cause of death is relatively undiscerning and applicable to all, but the other cause of death might only apply to a few. But I don’t know, I’d like to see the actual stat.
juiceland 8d ago
>In a multiple of ways: you become disconnected from nature and closed off to environments I live in a city. Nature for me means the squealing breaks of cars and trucks + people trying to get my attention so I'll take their religious flyer. No thanks.
theshrike79 8d ago
Listening to music while out and about doesn't equate to "completely oblivious". I've seen people with no earbuds be completely oblivious and almost walk into traffic...
utopiah 8d ago
Indeed not Apple specific. That's also why there are different designs, e.g. in ear, over ear, open over ear, bone conduction, and technologies, e.g. noise cancelling, active noise cancelling, non voice filtering. Typically there are visuals though, e.g. crossing lights for pedestrian, so the risk from the lack of hearing in a city is quite low IMHO. FWIW in Belgium you can even legally ride a bike with earphones, which shows the risk is estimated to be very low.

franzb 8d ago

AirPods and other ANC earphones have been around for ages, nothing new.

matsemann 8d ago

People drive cars every day, isolated in a box with windows rolled up, playing music or radio, not being able to hear what's going on around them. So I don't buy the safety argument of noise canceling headphones being dangerous.

pipnonsense 8d ago
Well, that’s exactly why I worry when walking around with noise canceling phones. Because all those people driving cars oblivious to their surroundings
- matsemann 8d ago
  Yeah, I get your point, I jusr don't think the solution is to police pedestrians. I'll stop wearing noise canceling headphones in the city the day cars stop being loud, and when the drivers of those cars drive with no music and their windows rolled down ;)
stouset 8d ago
If we’re going there, cars are a leading cause of death and the leading cause of death for children and young adults. That said, the masses have had noise cancelling earbuds for years at this point and while there definitely are cases of people getting hurt or killed from being unaware of their surroundings, it’s not really been that big a deal.
- juiceland 8d ago
  >cars are a leading cause of death and the leading cause of death for children and young adults. Firearms have been the leading cause of death for people ages 1-19 since 2020. [0]https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2201761 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2201761
  - stouset 8d ago
    How utterly depressing.
  - simmschi 8d ago
    In the USA.
  - lotsofpulp 8d ago
    I wonder if that stat is true if removing the kids in gangs from the data. One cause of death is relatively undiscerning and applicable to all, but the other cause of death might only apply to a few. But I don’t know, I’d like to see the actual stat.

juiceland 8d ago

>In a multiple of ways: you become disconnected from nature and closed off to environments I live in a city. Nature for me means the squealing breaks of cars and trucks + people trying to get my attention so I'll take their religious flyer. No thanks.

theshrike79 8d ago

Listening to music while out and about doesn't equate to "completely oblivious". I've seen people with no earbuds be completely oblivious and almost walk into traffic...

utopiah 8d ago

Indeed not Apple specific. That's also why there are different designs, e.g. in ear, over ear, open over ear, bone conduction, and technologies, e.g. noise cancelling, active noise cancelling, non voice filtering. Typically there are visuals though, e.g. crossing lights for pedestrian, so the risk from the lack of hearing in a city is quite low IMHO. FWIW in Belgium you can even legally ride a bike with earphones, which shows the risk is estimated to be very low.