The Soundtrack Of Your Life19 June, 2017
It was some years ago, when I realized that from the first waking moment until I fell asleep I was enveloped inside an auditory cocoon, that drowned out my thoughts.
Before that moment I was either listening to music or to podcasts. Never went out of the house without earbuds. In the bus, the train, while walking the dog or through the city. I was not listening to the birds or hearing the chatter of the people around me.
While music had the effect of either uplifting my mood or enforcing melancholy, podcasts had the added benefit of expanding my knowledge in a passive and entertaining way.
Because of this passivity, my thoughts never mattered on the topic that I was listening to, because I was not actively engaging in a discussion with anybody. I was the endpoint on that chain of shared information.
Once I realized that, it felt like waking up. Becoming aware of my situation, was the first step towards being a creator instead of just a consumer.
The content stream is not stopping and only getting stronger. To be part of that stream you have to break the dam of fear and judgement that is holding you back.
Now that I value the time where my mind can float freely and try to be creative, I am more picky in what I spend my time on and with.
The rapid technological progress does not make it any easier.
Right now I am using wireless earbuds for my audio entertainment. My devices are waterproof now. Granting me more freedom to create my daily reality the way I want to, anywhere.
Give it a couple of years and all this technology will be miniaturized to a point where I will be wearing a device on me all the time.
Filtering, enhancing and modifying sounds in my environment. Having a constant stream of music or podcasts or whatever I might want to listen to in the background.
Having a soundtrack of my life.
Once everyone's auditory life is unique, saved and visualized in software, we can start to analyze the data.
See patterns that relate to mood and productivity.
Maybe that is a project worth pursuing.