Things I Don't Understand - Number Five

Lately, I often find myself walking past young people in the street, or at the supermarket, mall, etc, who have their cellphone turned up loud, playing music, sometimes with earbuds in but often not. The resulting music – which is generally some kind of rap or the latest shallow pop sensation - is tinny, jangly and decidedly irritating. I know they probably don’t care what damage it’s doing to their hearing (young people don’t generally worry about that sort of thing), but I’m mystified as to why they have it playing at all, in those environments. It’s not like you can get the full effect of the music through the tiny speaker of a cellphone. Plus it’s often at least half-drowned out by the clamour of other street or background noise, supermarket or mall muzak, etc, etc. So what’s the point? Is it a sort of subtle adolescent bragging or showing off, advertising that they’ve got a cellphone? (Though pretty much everyone over twelve does, these days.) Are they so addicted to their favourite music they’ve got to have it playing 24/7, no matter what else is going on? Is a trendy thing? Am I turning into an old fogey? Or is it perhaps an NT thing, of wanting/liking noise all the time? I’m puzzled – not to mention overloaded by the aural onslaught.

It’s not that I dislike music, because I certainly don’t. (Well, some anyway. I don’t like rap, or most of those shallow Latest Sensation singers, which I admit doesn’t help. But that’s not my main point.) I simply prefer to listen to it in peace at home, with no other distractions, and through decent sized speakers, so I can get the full effect, and full enjoyment. It’s a private, relaxation thing, not a ‘let’s play rap all day long while we hang out at the mall’ thing.

I can’t help wondering if it’s somehow similar to another NT phenomenon I’ve noticed over the years, and that is people’s holiday habits. In NZ, it’s long been the traditional summer-holiday thing to load up the car and trot off to some beachside campground, squeezing in their tent or caravan or motor home next to dozens of others doing the same thing. Or they rent a holiday home (a “bach”, in Kiwispeak), with only slightly more room, also in some popular seaside place. It’s always mystified me. These are people who live cheek-by-jowl in the cities and main towns, surrounded by crowds every day – so what do they do for their summer break? Go somewhere they are even more cheek-by-jowl with other people!! You’d think they’d want some solitude, some peace and quiet, but no.

It’s not that I don’t understand that NTs don’t receive the full sensory onslaught we do, that they can somehow filter a lot of it out. I also understand that they are generally far more socially-inclined, or at least able to tolerate the constant company of others more easily. But even so… surely they must occasionally want something a bit more restful? Or at least a temporary absence or lessening of noise/people? A beach with no-one else around, a walk down the street with no over-the-top racket, a stroll through the majestic hush of our native forests, with only birdsong for company? Perhaps some do, and I just don’t notice them. Or perhaps it’s just the young people who like the noise and clamour, so their parents take them to these places. But then many parents seem to like these kinds of environments too…

I’m confused. And overwhelmed. And wondering if I’ll ever understand NTs.