Is listening to music while grocery shopping anti-social? I often listen to music on my MP3 player while shopping. Recently, someone told me that this is anti-social behaviour (this person has an iPod, by the way). And so, I followed up with someone else who wondered if this might indeed be anti-social behaviour. I am perplexed and I am stunned. I stop listening when I am in line waiting to pay. I see others who keep on listening even while paying for their food. It's not like I know anybody in the supermarket, and even if I did, what's the big deal?

So, when can I listen to my MP3 player? Walking to the store, or maybe not 'cause that, too might be anti-social. Is this not a free country? Can I not listed to music while I browse for avocados or books or wine or lingerie?

Before I had these conversations, I was trying to determine if certain types of music influenced my shopping preferences and behaviours. Does listening to Houses of the Holy make me buy more or shop faster? Does listening to Brian Eno make me linger over the pineapples? Does listening to Leonard Cohen make me consider the despair of the lonely people overcome with indecision in the breakfast cereal aisle? I was working towards a hypothesis, but now I think I am being forced to re-evaluate the whole process. Why, just last week, I bought extra bananas, and I wondered if it was becuase of Bauhaus.

So, my conclusion is that listening to an MP3 player/walkman is either anti-social whenever there is a chance for a social interaction or that you can do whatever you want.

Tags: shopping, MP3 players