Joe90 wrote:
la_fenkis wrote:
When I go out and about I often like to listen to music. It gives me something structured, familiar, and enjoyable to absorb myself in. And it reduces the chances that a person will interact with me. Also gives me a chance to understand what's going on and collect myself between when they seem to want to interact and when I pull the headphones out.
I don't mind respectful social interaction. I just don't like confrontation, even if it isn't threatening. I don't like feeling singled out or picked upon or targeted.
I don't either. I meant in part that having to take headphones out of my ears provides a socially understandable excuse to delay my entry into a confrontation for a moment, during which I can sometimes figure out how I want to respond, if at all. In some situations I can even pretend I didn't hear a person and just keep walking or wave them off or something.
It feels nice to have a moment to observe the situation before having to respond or deal with it. I can feel a bit jumpy out in the world and headphones seem to help me feel a little bit more detached from it. Kinda like with music I'm in a bubble and I get to choose whether to come out of the bubble by taking off the headphones.
12 Aug 2019, 12:50 pm
