iPod: as dangerous to society as the paperback

I posted a blog a couple months ago about how iPods promote an absent presence among devotees and in turn society. My hip Chicago friend Sara (who keeps me up to speed on the latest El trends) forwarded this Chicago Tribune article about iPod users reclaiming their personal space.

The article contains a very cool comparison, made by Steve Jones, professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago and senior research fellow at the Pew Internet and American Life Project: "We've long looked for technologies that privatize us in public," Jones said. "People voiced some of the same concerns when paperbacks were first mass-produced: `Now while we're riding on trains, instead of interacting, we'll each be reading our own book.'"