Is it a little noisy in here??

[Spitfire]

Ever consider it's a combination of things? Could it be that not only is it getting louder out there (but not as loud as we think), could it also be that it is us that are getting older in here (not as young as we think)? I know that when I listen to music I listened to 20 years ago, it sure has to be turned DOWN a lot more than it used to be!

Just an observation.

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap Mr.Lucky I think you've got something there.
But there must be something wrong, when more and more bars and coffeshops have NO CELLPHONE signs.
I have even seen a sign: NO KIDS on a couple of bars and coffeshops.

When I look at my teenageson reading a magazin, with messenger blasting ding-dongs, the TV and his hi-fi on, I wonder if the new generation is just afraid of the silence. Afraid of meeting oneself - so to speak.
Maybe they've got to have noise, music, cellphones etc. to feel alive.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Ever consider it's a combination of things? Could it be that not only is it getting louder out there (but not as loud as we think), could it also be that it is us that are getting older in here (not as young as we think)? I know that when I listen to music I listened to 20 years ago, it sure has to be turned DOWN a lot more than it used to be!

Just an observation.

You do bring up an interesting point. I definitely listen to my music much more softly than in my youth. But, I'm pretty sure it's as loud as we think it is, if not louder. Have you walked through the mall recently, by an Abercrombie and Fitch store? The one in the mall near us actually has speakers right at the front door, blasting their music directly into the mall. This is a relatively new thing to do. Also years ago shops played soft, easy listening music, provided by Musak! Stores had standards as to what they would play. I think that if they still have standards today, at least some, the choice of music would be different. In Macy's today I got to listen to a song about shaking something or another with your best friends girl while he's off at work, then the lyrics of the next song really got stuck in my head for they said "don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me". Yup, those are the lyrics being blasted across department stores, stores where mom's bring their kids for back to school shopping. And it wasn't just playing, it was blasting. I felt this was entirely inappropriate.
I'm sure that getting older might make me a bit more susceptible to noise, but I still think that it's getting a lot noisier out there, regardless of my age.

 

[herringbonekid]

eupeptic

had to look that one up.

 

[BellyTank]

The loud "kids music'" in shops gets right up my nose.

But apparently, it draws the punters in...

...not me.

B
T

 

[Miss Sis]

I like nothing better than to come home and turn nothing on....

Just enjoy the silence.

I hate televisions, radios, stereos on in every room and no-one is even listening to them. At my boyfriend's I go round turning them off.

 

[GOK]

Move over please, I'd like to join this club.

I actually find myself getting incredibly annoyed by the loud music in shops. But here's the rub; I am very even tempered. I never, ever lose it. I don't rant, I don't shout, I never raise my voice - in fact, I don't even know what I'd sound like if I did - yet certain things at certain noise levels make me feel as though a seething ball of rage has just welled up inside me and is about to explode out of me. I have no idea why this should be and I try to avoid situations that are going to make me feel uncomfortable like this but as you say, Daisy, these days it's pretty much unavoidable when out shopping.

Restaurants - oh yes, loud people, loud music...grrrrrr. I have asked staff to turn down the music and luckily for me they've been happy to do so, but what is the point? How on earth can one have a conversation when one's eardrums are being perforated? As for kids screaming and having tantrums in restaurants - I'm afraid I do ask to be given a new table, or I else I just don't eat there in the first place.

I do feel the need however, to point out that half the time, some parents are so ill equipped to do their job, it's hardly surprising the children play up. A few months ago, we went for dinner to an Asian fusion place that we frequent almost every week. There was a family having a birthday party (they were not Asian)....for a two year old! We got there at around 10pm and the family was just on its starter. WTF????? That child should have been in bed, safe, sound and asleep, not made to sit in a restaurant while her family indulged themselves. How utterly irresponsible. It's no wonder she got irritable.

At the moment, my bugbear is roadworks. I was awoken at seven this morning by jackhammers and drills. It is still going on outside - I have no idea what they are doing but I hope they are going to be quick about it. It's very difficult to work with all this racket.

 

[BonnieJean]

There was a family having a birthday party (they were not Asian)....for a two year old! We got there at around 10pm and the family was just on its starter. That child should have been in bed, safe, sound and asleep, not made to sit in a restaurant while her family indulged themselves. How utterly irresponsible. It's no wonder she got irritable.

GOK, try to go shopping around the middle of the day or early afternoon, when the wee ones should be home napping. Every time I've been in a store at those times, there's always a tired, irritable young one that should be home in their bed instead of shopping with mom. (Once a mom, always a mom. You recognize stuff like this.) When my boys were young, their nap time was right after lunch and I never took them shopping then. Tired and cranky kids=frustrated mom. I'd like to go up to those moms and tell them to take their kids home, everyone would be a lot happier.

could it also be that it is us that are getting older in here

Yes, that is probably true, but I still think the noise levels are much higher than during the Golden Era. A side effect of modern technology.

 

[Lord Jagged]

I agree the world is louder (and coarser) than perhaps it one day was.

On our intercity trains they set aside two carriages (one in First Class and one in Standard Class) as "Quiet" carriages. An announcement is made requesting people refrain from using "mobile phones and personal stereo equipment". Now I admit that I find it annoying when a person has their mp3 player turned up so loud that I can hear it and people "shouting" their conversations into a mobile phone are just rude. What I don't understand is when a passenger will make a huge fuss over a person almost whispering a brief telephone conversation whilst they feel it perfectly acceptable to have an enormously loud conversation with their colleagues in the quiet carriage.

I try getting a seat in the quiet carriage to read peacefully on my way home. The rest of the world has become to loud for me!

 

[GOK]

GOK, try to go shopping around the middle of the day or early afternoon, when the wee ones should be home napping. Every time I've been in a store at those times, there's always a tired, irritable young one that should be home in their bed instead of shopping with mom. (Once a mom, always a mom. You recognize stuff like this.) When my boys were young, their nap time was right after lunch and I never took them shopping then. Tired and cranky kids=frustrated mom. I'd like to go up to those moms and tell them to take their kids home, everyone would be a lot happier.

Of course, you are assuming that people actually put their children down for a nap in the afternoon like we did. I don't know if that happens anymore. Like you, I'd never take my children out when they were tired, it would have just made for an awful time all round. I think this is part of the basic problem - some parents either have little concept of when their child has had enough ro they don't care. And of course, as it has also been pointed out here, half the time, the children don't understand the word 'no' and play up, knowing full well that their parents are going to give in. Rod, back anyone?

 

[herringbonekid]

loud music in pubs annoys me. especially if i can't hear what the person next to me is saying. i don't go to such pubs anymore (i'm getting older). i don't mind music in pubs, but it should be background. ideally it should be 30s swing

 

[griffer]

Oi, the kids these days with their loud thump, thump music and those clothes!

Why, i oughtta....!!!

Back in my day, we had the decency to, oh, wait, no we didn't....um....

Sooooo....any one know where i can get some vintage headsets for my 'ipod'?

I miss my Victrola Perambulating-Chap. That new fangled gyroscope sure took care of the skips on the old platters....

 

[Harry Pierpont]

Ah country life

My wife,"Bonniejean", and I were discussing this thread last night. We live in the boonies, 15 miles from the nearest "city" I stepped out to leave for work around 6:30am in was still dark and VERY foggy. It was quiet, I could not hear a thing except for a few drops of dew dripping off the trees onto my van. I wish I could have just sat down and enjoyed the peace. But reality kicked in and I had to leave for work in the "bigger" city 60 miles away. Come on retirement!

 

[Big Man]

Oi, the kids these days with their loud thump, thump music and those clothes!

Why, i oughtta....!!! ...

I pulled up at the stop light the other day beside a high school age kid with his "da-boom, da-boom, da-boom" noise (it isn't music) going. On his car was a bumper sticker that read: "If My Music Is Too Loud Then You Are Too Old".

I just laughed to myself as I thought, "This little p***k doesn't know what real LOUD music was!" Ahhh ... memories of CCR cranked up wide open on the old 8 track.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Daisy & Spitfire -

I do agree that the volume of the world has increased exponentially, no question. The whole cell-phone thing, especially out here in Cal-e-for-NIA (the All About Me State) has gotten out of hand.

Honestly, lady, I could give a crap if your Mercedes mechanic ran away to Ensenada with his hairdressers' plastic surgeon's second cousin by marriage and left you with no A/C!

That, and the earth shaking WOOFERS! Come on, this is Cali! We have enough REAL earth shaking to worry about!

But I do believe age has something to do with it. Not just because I see it in myself, but because of the history behind it. Heck, this kind of thing has been the norm since the advent of the radio and its hell-fire racket!

Yes, it's getting louder. And, yes, we're getting older. Now, what to do about either...

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

GOK, try to go shopping around the middle of the day or early afternoon, when the wee ones should be home napping. Every time I've been in a store at those times, there's always a tired, irritable young one that should be home in their bed instead of shopping with mom. (Once a mom, always a mom. You recognize stuff like this.) When my boys were young, their nap time was right after lunch and I never took them shopping then. Tired and cranky kids=frustrated mom. I'd like to go up to those moms and tell them to take their kids home, everyone would be a lot happier.



Yes, that is probably true, but I still think the noise levels are much higher than during the Golden Era. A side effect of modern technology.

BonnieJean, My sister, yes the very loud sister with the incredibly loud and rambunctious 2 year old Isaac, says that she's doing this "new type of parenting". She will not allow Isaac to sleep anywhere but his crib! Apparently some doctor wrote yet another book about child rearing and said that when kids fall asleep outside of their crib, like their stroller, they don't actually get the real sleep that they need, they don't actually go into deep sleep mode. So, she sticks to this strict schedule but I think it's rather stressful. For example, during a recent visit we decided one morning to take him to his favorite playground in Central Park. We brought a picnic lunch and wow did he have a great time. Then, in the middle of having a great time on the slide with another toddler, my sister starts getting neurotic. "Oh my goodness it's 12:30, we have to go, we have to go now!!" she's spouting at me and Hem and my parents. He has to be in his crib for his nap at 1. If we leave now we can make it and he won't fall asleep in the stroller. We were having such a great time, Isaac was having a blast. We were all like, 20 more minutes. But no, that would mess up Isaac's clock!!! So, everyday she does this, where she gets anxious about making sure he's in his crib at exactly 1pm. I personally think that if I was napping while going for a nice stroll through central park being pushed in a big comfy stroller, it'd be the best nap of my life! Anyway, my point. At least it's one less grumpy toddler at the mall! It's strange to me, I'm all for doing it like they do in Europe, bring your kids with you everywhere. But, I'm also all about discipline and doing everything in my power to teach my children manners. However, I'm not a mommy yet, so I really shouldn't be making these kind of bold claims!!

You all do have great points!!

There are certain restaurants in Boston that make you check your cell phones at the door. Those are the places that I want to eat at, but usually they are the outrageously expensive ones that I can't afford!

 

[Paisley]

Daisy, I started the same thread last summer when I endured ear-splitting music and announcer's comments at a polo match.

I talked to one of the organizers just the other day and told him about the noise. Maybe something will be done about it next year.

 

[griffer]

I have been advocating for a 'film aficionado' club for a while.

...

In fact I am cutting this over to a new thread.... http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?p=220735#post220735

 

[GOK]

fftopic: Whilst I would never presume to tell parents how to raise their children, sometimes being on the outside does afford a clearer view than perhaps being on the in the thick of it does. I agree that children need discipline and routine; these form their boundaries which make them feel safe. However, to make these boundaries an absolute is asking for trouble in my view. As with everything in life, a degree of flexibility is often necessary for balance. So yes, put a child down for a nap at one o'clock every day but if he's having fun at a family event or a day out, then go with the flow.

I think if we restrict children too much, there is a danger they will become.....neurotic? Timid? I've seen so much of this. One couple I know are completely obsessed with cleanliness, punctuality and perfection. The father even carries wet wipes and an antibac spray with him at all times. This has rubbed off on their three year old who will not play with other children at all in case he gets dirty. Poor lad.

As for all these so-called childcare experts - they have an awful lot to answer for. What happened to common sense?

 

[Spitfire]

NOISE!!!!

The only place where I want to hear noise - and as much as possible - is at the Flying Legends Show at Duxford. Ahhhh...the sweet sound of 12 merlins under 1000 ft.

 

[Miss Sis]

Today on my way to visit a client, I had to take a short tram ride there and back. On both journeys, I had music (?Noise) inflicted on me from a mobile phone, loud enough for the whole tram to hear.

What happened to headphones???? I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR MUSIC!!!!! Selfish gits. Makes me want to throw their phone out the window. It is endemic now that people will do what they want, regardless of how it affects other people.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr. :rage: