Take a minute and look around you. You might notice some of your classmates, professors or complete strangers, and while they’re near you, they’re not with you. We are together but alone.
At the beginning of the pandemic, everyone was forced to isolate. To essentially hide in the shadows. To spend less time with loved ones and friends. It was an awful world to live in because people need socialization to properly function.
“Socializing not only staves off feelings of loneliness, but also it helps sharpen memory and cognitive skills, increases your sense of happiness and well-being, and may even help you live longer,” said Vivien Williams, a writer at the Mayo Clinic News Network.
But despite a desperate need for communication among friends, family and even strangers, everyone was closed off and shut down. Which allowed people to put on their headphones and seamlessly stay in their own world. Even after shutdowns, this trend seeped onto campuses, grocery stores and malls, perhaps making us even more closed off from others. 
Almost everyone is guilty of wanting to listen to music while walking to class, in classes or at social gatherings. One does not go a day without seeing someone wearing headphones.
Technology is endlessly advancing and has allowed us to easily communicate with others through text messages, emails, social media and more. However, it also takes away the face-to-face interactions we would normally have with people daily. 
“They’re not ignoring me, they just don’t hear me with their Airpods,” said Diane Egilitis, an associate professor of sociology and international affairs at George Washington University told Lauren Ofman and Zilana Lee. “It creates a little bit of an awkward situation when I’m speaking to them, and they don’t even look at me.”
Egilitis always greets each student who enters her classroom. She also noted that she was shocked by the number of students who use electronic devices when entering a classroom and do not interact with her, according to The GW Hatchet. 
The same can even apply to students walking around campus. One may hardly see open socializing unless it’s a group of friends. Otherwise, students may not even say hello to one another or thank someone for holding a door open for them.
Before the pandemic, it seemed there was much less usage of headphones anywhere and everywhere. But now, it would probably be difficult to go five minutes without seeing someone using them. And perhaps it’s in direct response to the quarantine and finding comfort in the former isolation. 
LSU mass communications sophomore Arwen Robinson mentioned how often she finds people wearing headphones, especially after winter break, due to Christmas gifts. She also noted new places where people have decided to use these electronic devices. 
“Especially in grocery stores or public settings, I don’t think I’ve seen people use headphones more than I do now,” Robinson said. “And I’ve seen videos of people talking about it like, ‘yeah, I’ll just put my headphones in so I don’t have to talk to people.’”
In 2020, many people spent up to 10 hours a week alone. Meanwhile, the numbers representing the hours people spent with others were dropping, as reported by the Washington Post. In 2021, the Post also found that people spent less than three hours with their closest friends, despite some states being more open during the pandemic. 
This, of course, may lead to the conclusion that despite what may be going on in the outside world, people still choose to be alone. There’s nothing wrong with occasional solitude. Everyone needs time to recharge their social battery. Nevertheless, the patterns of not spending time with our close friends.
Whether the pandemic caused the isolation around college campuses and the world is still up in the air. We have to be able to communicate with other people through our jobs, families, love lives and so much more. 
Unfortunately, reality hits, and sometimes we must step out of our bubbles, take our headphones off and live in the moment.
Taylor Hamilton is an 18-year-old mass communication freshman from Tallahassee, Florida.