Oh, ipod! What am I going to do with you?

I got a little ipod for Christmas (just in case you're wondering, I named it "Little Dudelo"). I wasn’t sure when I was going to use it and if I would even enjoy it. I’m not exactly the first adapter of new technology and was thinking, “What I am going to do with this thing? How am I going to find anything on here?” I could see an ipod being useful if you ride the train to work for more than 30 minutes each way or if you are on vacation and don’t want to take your CD collection or if you are moving overseas and can’t take much stuff, but I didn’t know how an ipod would fit into my life. It seemed like more trouble than it was worth. My husband, on the other hand, was THRILLED!

In the past week, however, I have really started to enjoy my ipod a lot. I work in a typical office with the typical office distractions: doors opening and closing, people talking in the open areas or on the phone in nearby cubicles, people yelling at their computers, meetings in nearby conference rooms, etc. I have found that putting my ipod on while I sit at my desk allows me to ignore all of the distractions that are not aimed at me but just happen to occur near me. It also cuts down on some of the distractions that are aimed at me because people assume I’m busy and leave me to my business when they see the earphones in.

Overall, I like the soundtrack of my life to be created by the noise of my surroundings. I’m not generally the type of person who wants to impose a soundtrack of my choosing upon my environment by wearing headphones everywhere I go. I find that I need quiet time where there’s nothing demanding my attention. I’m also a friendly, outgoing person and find that wearing headphones greatly decreases your opportunity to interact with people. But sometimes you do want to cut down on interaction or distraction and I have really enjoyed having a tool to help me do that.

The only bad side effect is my tendency to sing along to my music or do a little dance at my desk. Hopefully, my cubicle neighbors are wearing their own headphones to cut down on that distraction.