Reply to Question for parents who let kids use electronics with sound in public places without headphones

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

Reply to "Question for parents who let kids use electronics with sound in public places without headphones"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I let my kids use my phone without headphones.  I try to remember for things like a flight, but if I forget, I can promise that you would rather hear Frozen at a low volume than listen to my kids 801930842 questions and signing the songs from Frozen.  [/quote]

I would much rather listen to your children ask their questions and sing their songs than a device playing whatever. You might prefer they watch Frozen rather than interact with each other, you, and the world, but don't pretend you're doing it for our benefit.[/quote]

I find overhearing someone else's movie or music or video game is almost always more disruptive than hearing people talk or sing themselves.  It's like loud cellphone conversations -- yes, people who talk really loud in confined spaces are annoying, but it's worse when it's on a cell phone.  I'm not sure I can articulate why, it just is.  [/quote]

I also find this fascinating and wonder if there's been research on the topic. I'd never have my phone's volume on in public (barring an emergency, I guess), and I do generally find it rude, but I am open to the idea that I "shouldn't" and all of these things (in-person conversation vs a video at the same volume) are the same. But if I had to put money on it, I'd bet there's a real reason, possibly besides just cultural norms or expectations, that our brain processes these things differently. I just said in another comment that I have ADHD and thus, attentional and sensory issues, so I find these kinds of things fascinating.   [/quote]

Oooh, okay, this is interesting!

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hearing-just-one-half-of-a-conversation-is-really-really-annoying-2657804/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100921101344.htm

Another PP mentioned how hearing one-sided cell conversations is more annoying than hearing both sides of a conversation, but here's an interesting tidbit:

"Emberson thinks this is because our brains more or less ignore predictable things, while paying more attention to things that are unpredictable. When both sides of the conversation are audible, it flows predictably, but a cell phone conversation is quite unpredictable."

So my hypothesis re: videos would be that when we only hear them, we are missing a lot of intended visual information, making the auditory output particularly disjointed and unpredictable to bystanders (relative to a conversation-- and if it's happening in person, you can even pick up on body language, anticipating when the other person is about to speak, etc.-- even if you're not staring at them).

As someone who works in film, I can say that film/video has rapidly increased "visual literacy"-- which is why cuts can now be faster, predominantly visual montages used instead of verbal exposition, etc. As compared to movies from, say, the 1970s, and even moreso the 1940s or early talkies. So we now have film/video media that is much less easily understood without the visuals than past film/video output from even 20-30 years ago or whatever.

I mean, that's my hypothesis anyway-- that overhearing videos without visual input can be confusing and distressing for our brains, because it feels really random and unpredictable. And I would think this goes triple for kids' videos and games, which are even more visual and less dialogue-driven than a lot of other media. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics