IP Democracy: The iPod as Urban Sherpa

(Back after a blogging and unplanned Internet break during the Christmas holiday.)

The iPod is now a proper subject of serious academic study. Michael Bull is a professor in media and film at England's University of Sussex and has earned the moniker of Dr. iPod for his research into the cultural impact of digital music devices. Professor Bull just finished a study of a 1,000 U.S. iPod owners and found that the iPod serves as a kind of "urban Sherpa," navigating us through our moods, work and daily routines.

And it's true. Take a ride on a subway or fly on a plane or stroll down a city street and most people are plugged into some kind of device, usually an iPod or an iPhone or a cell phone. Although being constantly plugged in can reduce real human interactions, Professor Bull found that the iPod "does work to make people happier." It helps us concentrate better at work and allows us to choose culture on our own terms.

Professor Bull's research ended before the iPhone came out, but he thinks that it won't prove to be as calming as the iPod is because it features, well, a phone that can break "the isolation bubble." I'm not so sure about that. If anything, the iPhone provides more guidance, more choice than the iPod because it connects to the Internet. And if Google Maps doesn't come really close to being a Sherpa, then what, aside from GPS directions, does?

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on December 27, 2007 9:22 AM to IP Democracy