As you might suspect, the cause of the carnage was inattention. More than half the victims were struck by trains, and most of the injuries happened in urban settings, where there are far more obstacles than on country roads. The study examined data from 2004 to 2011, and found that men who were younger than 30 were the most likely victims, with one in 10 younger than 18. Some 70 percent of the accidents resulted in death.
As wearing headphones or ear buds becomes an increasingly common phenomenon, the number of injuries increases. The reason is distraction from the real world. Listening to music shifts the perspective from personal locomotion to something else, a dreamlike state of mind that focuses on girls, cars, revenge and a million other situations. This results in the wearer not noticing potholes, phone poles or oncoming trains.
The technical term for the dreamlike state created by wearing headphones is “inattentional blindness,” which is defined as a reduction in attention to external stimuli. Some researches like to call it “iPod oblivion,” but such branding isn’t necessary. The problem all boils down to not watching where you’re going.
Bonking yourself in the head or walking into a train isn’t the only danger headphones can propagate. There’s also the extreme likelihood of hearing loss.