alt Hacker NewsI 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.
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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.
>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.
AirPods and other ANC earphones have been around for ages, nothing new.
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...
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.