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Comment by MichaelCollins | Hacker News Reader

Visual media is the problem, not phones themselves. Use your phone to listen to an audiobook, podcast, music, etc and leave the phone in your pocket. Problem solved.

> ears attuned to serendipity,

Ears attuned to.. the distant rumble of diesel engines. Maybe a few crows squawking. I don't think I'm missing out on much by tuning out city sounds.

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Distant rumbles? More like to cunts revving their BMWs in dense 19th century quarters. Never was more glad to wear ANC buds.

For me, the heavy machinery is the worst. Excavators and the like; they're louder than most trucks but stick around in earshot for hours a day. And worse than their engines are some of the tools they use for breaking up road surfaces. The jackhammers and particularly the road cutting saws both make awful noise. The diesel engine noises are easy enough to tune out, but the road saws are like banshees.

I literally lol'd when I read "a blindfold for the ears which encourages us to disregard the whispers of the planet". I guess this person leaves in the countryside or some really beautiful forest, I really like my blindfold to the car horns, people screaming, construction sounds, etc.

I wouldn't bother purchasing earbuds or headphones without both noise canceling and transparency, at this point.

Being able to switch to hearing the world without holding something in my hand is critical for a good time.

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