A very Millennial time capsule

For some strange trick of the mind, once I wear a protective mask it’s almost as if my auditory and visual senses were heightened. I basically turn into a superhuman. But not the cool superheroes that can do and see all things. I turn into the Daredevil-gone-into-sensory-deprivation kind of superhuman.

Classic Barbs. 

Already, the only way to cope with the sight of a collapsing society is to listen to, literally, anything very loudly on earphones. Audiobooks, musicals, comedy shows, Youtube videos, podcasts, you name it.

There is no silence in my head at any waking time. 

I have even downloaded an app for guided meditation, so I can listen to more words as I fall asleep. I am pretty sure this is how it works.

Anyway, in this whirlpool of voices inside my head, my eyes seem to focus on all the written words I come across that would otherwise go unnoticed. I started paying attention to these words, especially when they look out-of-place. A 'stop' signal on a staircase, a ‘love’ sticker on a tram door, an i-pod alert in a basement at work.

Wait, what? I had to stop and look again.

It was a big old i-pod, the ones with the wheely-thingy on the front, telling me to be alert due to machinery transit. That’s a very odd choice of audio-device. I haven’t seen an i-pod like that since, well, since I first packed my gym bag, back in Uni.

I have been walking these hallways for five years and it took me wearing a protective mask to notice that poster and reach deep into my gym bag.

I found earphones with unicorns, broken earphones, earphones that aren't even mine, spare socks, my green i-pod, and a purple Impulse deodorant. My fellow Millennials know what’s up. Eventually, I plugged the i-pod into my laptop and it turned on in all its glory:

Party rock anthem

Where them girls at

Superbass

Sexy and I know it

On the floor

And then I noticed something was missing… I remember there was some apple-y interface, lists of songs… I-Tunes, of course! Which, as it turns out, got booted a while ago. There is no easy way for my not-a-Mac laptop to update the playlist.

This is not an i-pod… it’s a time capsule!

Nine years have passed and the tech scene has changed so much making i-pods so obsolete they can only be found at the bottom of questionable gym-bags, and on posters in hospital basements.

The hardware might be outdated, but the sound and smell combo brought me back to a time where getting sick from a hangover was the worst thing that could happen and the biggest social crisis was bumping someone off your top-6 Myspace friends.

When I think of the words ‘dance like no-one’s watching’ these 2011 gems are what comes to mind.

I should be listening to more feel-good music instead of filling my mind with more words just to make my thoughts shut up. Closing my eyes and dancing my heart out, instead of focusing on all the messages that surround me.

The world may be full of words but I have a time-capsule in my pocket.

Everyday I’m shuffling.



Image: via