SINGAPORE: A Singaporean took to an online forum on Tuesday (Nov 5) to call out passengers on public transportation who play music or videos without earpieces.
“I thought this usually happens with older folks who have no idea how earpieces work or teens who are just trying to show off their (horrible) taste in music,” the Singaporean wrote.
“But I’ve recently found that my daily commute seems to include at least one person watching videos or listening to music loudly, and they may not belong to either age group mentioned above,” he added.
“Just earlier, a lady in her late 30s/early 40s next to me on a crowded train was listening to a video (titled) ‘Greatest Hymns of All Time’ out loud.
I had to fight the temptation to blast some other religious songs back,” he wrote about how he felt about his experience just earlier that day.
“I don’t expect total silence on the transport, but for some reason, these sounds irk me way more than a normal conversation of the same volume would.
Does anyone else feel the same, or would you rather listen to others’ songs/videos than their conversations?” he asked others in the forum.
In response to the post, some online users argued that such behaviours are why they use noise-cancelling earpieces.
“No wonder so many people have noise-cancelling headphones nowadays. They probably just want some silence on their journey,” said one.
Others shared their anecdotes revolving around such passengers.
“I encountered a young father blasting Baby Shark to his toddler on the bus. So excruciating, but at the same time, feels wrong to be so irked,” said one.
Still, a few exchanged notes and shared how they dealt with inconsiderate passengers.
“I will usually play Bach’s organ music or opera at full volume,” said one.
“Most people in the compartment understand what’s happening. The original offender usually gives me a dirty look, and I just smile and nod,” he added.
“One way I annoy these people back (if I’m with my partner/friends on the train) is that we’ll just start discussing the content of people’s videos out loud,” shared another.
“We’ll just start judging the content people are watching. It turns out that shaming people for their taste effectively makes them want to keep their volume down or use an earpiece.
Other times, if I’m alone, I’ll straight up ask someone if they want to share my AirPods. They’ll get grossed out by the suggestion and usually turn off the audio without getting defensive,” he concluded.