How I Learned to Go Backwards: My Love for the iPod (and the Case for Going Back to One).

Since 2016, my morning ritual has revolved around Spotify. I would wake up, unlock my phone, and then play the first song that my nucleus accumbens would spit out. This ritual became both a soothing routine and a pattern of enjoyment, on the same level as food or a pleasurable workout. In that sense, I became married to Spotify. It became my confidante and source of joy, as well as an excuse to feed my need to avoid socializing in public places. To that end, I think my relationship with Spotify is, at best, relatable and, at worst, a cautionary tale.

According to Google, 45% of Millennials use Spotify or have Spotify accounts, compared with 35% of Generation Z. Of the two generations, Millennials are estimated to spend more than two hours a day on Spotify, making my generation the one that spends the most time on the platform. Of course, that study fails to screen for factors such as financial privilege or Spotify's ability to meet users' musical expectations. What it did reinforce in my mind, once I quit Spotify, was the stereotype of the Millennial baby who constantly needs a fix of both instant gratification and the use of instant gratification to justify a need to isolate. We see this frequently in artificial intelligence (AI) commercials. Why socialize when ChatGPT can give us a cute cat video that blocks out the annoying baby in the doctor's office?

Behind all this arguing and postulating lies a question that nags like a stye: Why, given the amount of joy the internet can provide, would I choose to cancel my music streaming services in favor of an old iPod? Below, I will detail my experiences reverting to older technology and hope that they can do something similar for you.

The Price Tag

Services like Tidal, Apple Music, and Spotify generally start out free and then become low-cost. Once you start using those services, their need becomes instinctual, the way that food becomes instinctual. It was not at all abnormal for me, as a former user, to keep my music playing within minutes of waking up. When the phone bill increased as a result of my time on Spotify, my answer was simple: Upgrade. At the time I decided to stop using the service, my Spotify bill alone was $21 a month—more than enough for a week's worth of coffee.

It Cuts Us Off From Each Other

Earlier, I gave the example of the crying baby in the doctor's office. Keeping earbuds in during such visits simultaneously cancels out the noise of the baby and allows us to be discerning listeners. It allows us to govern what noises we hear around us and, with the rise of AI, use the sounds we like to create our own music. This creativity wouldn't be offensive to me except that, because of the constant noise, we are unable to hear what is going on around us.

It Reinforces the Need for Nonstop Internet Connectivity

In my teenage years, teachers warned my generation that technology, if we did not learn to regulate it, would lead us to become adults who were constantly asocial because of the constant presence of instant gratification. At that time, I could not have imagined the ways in which internet agencies would dip their claws into our culture and then twist their agendas until those agendas became one with our own.

There are those who might say that reverting to the iPod as a way of saying no to streaming is either extreme or detached. Those who do not understand the comparatively simplistic pleasure of pressing the play button and then going frequently either have not attempted to quit streaming services or have quit and then reverted. Those who attempt the challenge will probably find, as I did, that the iPod is both more about pleasure and less about being a crutch. There are many times when I hear a baby crying in the doctor's office and my earbuds are unable to cancel out the sound. That is always a sign to me that it is time to put my technology away and be present in the moment. There is something both rewarding and gratifying about that doctor's office visit—a new sound or seeing someone who wasn't there the next time. If you feel you either cannot or would not be able to leave Big Internet while you're out, I cannot change your mind. I can only share my experiences.