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In Madison Buzz Briefs
The iPod generation
 
By Dennis Krause
Special to OnMadison.com

E-mail author | Author bio
More articles by Dennis Krause

Published June 8, 2006 at 2:41 p.m.

I have an iPod. My wife has an iPod. My 14-year-old daughter has an iPod. My 13-year-old son has an iPod.

Actually, I'm not really being precise enough. I have an "old" iPod. You know, the original, thick white one. I still love it, but in my family it's almost looked at like it's a victrola or 8-track. I don't even have a cool-looking sleeve. Somehow to me those just seem like old socks. I've got some of those in my drawer.

My wife has a "Mini." Sure, it has less song capacity but it's certainly more fashionable than my hopelessly outdated version.

My son has the tiny "Shuffle." He rarely listens to it because he's too busy actually living a life. Good for him.

My daughter leads this iPod race in our family. She has upgraded to the Video iPod.
It's thin and sleek and accommodates music and video. Who knew that she couldn't live without downloading that Natasha Bedingfield music video?

My daughter especially seems to enjoy listening to her iPod when I'm driving her somewhere. That way she doesn't have to listen to my "old man" music. I was listening to a Bruce Springsteen CD with her in the car one day when she said: "Who signed this guy? He sounds like he needs to cough."

At first, I thought about trying to explain the raw emotion and the hidden lyrical meaning of "Backstreets." Instead, I just calmly explained that Springsteen was one of the most popular artists of my lifetime. She was thoroughly unimpressed.

Years from now, sociologists and communication experts will be able to study the "iPod Generation" and determine how the device has changed us. You know, how we're able to immerse ourselves in our own world and block out everything and everybody else. How we can pretend to be listening even when we're not, just so we don't have to talk to the person next to us. I know it certainly comes in handy for my daughter when she's in the car with me.
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