Or do you hike with headphones on?
My wireless headphones at my work computer finally died. It no longer connects between the headphones and the base. That’s what got me to thinking about all the people that wear headphones, or earbuds, or whatever you choice of poison is. And how often they wear them.
I can understand sitting at a desk and listening to some music to drown out the office noise around you. I can sort of understand walking down the street. But I can’t understand wearing them while jogging along the road or hiking.
A large part of the reason to hike is get closer to nature. Wearing headphones is not going to bring you closer to nature, they only help to separate you from nature. You wont be able to hear that bird signing in the tree near you. Or that bear walking up behind you to give you a hug.
That is always one of my concerns with people wearing headphones as well. I never wore them when I was running cross country, it was just too dangerous. All these people that walk the sidewalks with their ears plugged up can’t hear that car barreling down on them. Even some recent studies show how dangerous it can be to wear headphones.
Not only can it be dangerous to wear headphones because it separates you from the rest of the world, but it can be hard on your hearing.
If you really don’t want to get exposed to nature while hiking try hiking with a Boy Scout troop. I don’t care how much you try, you wont see much wildlife, it’s long gone before you get there.
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