Old public health guy's plea: Don't wear your headphones all the time

Abstract

This is going to sound like just another old guy rant, I'm afraid. But it's not. Or at least that's not all it is: I propose that people stop wearing headphones when they are out in public.<br><br>Now I realize that I'm already showing my age and lack of hipness by calling them headphones. The correct term of art is at least ear buds, if not some name I don't even know. But you get the idea: those little speakers on a cord, usually white, that are crammed into everyone's ears as they walk around, sit on the subway or ride in an elevator. They drive me crazy.