With all of the seriousness in the Viewpoint section over the last few weeks, I feel it is my duty to lighten things up a little bit. I’m still talking about important things, they are just a little more basic than the Presidential Inauguration or world conflict. My pet peeves, as it turns out, are really a failure on the part of your mother to teach you basic common courtesy. No, that isn’t fair to your mother, as the actual problem lies in you taking society’s direction over your mother’s learning.  Today’s issue is all about iPods.

So, I was studying in D.H. Hill and this girl comes in and sits down two computers away from me. As she walks behind me, I can hear the post-industrial techno blather spilling from her ear buds, and the volume doesn’t get any lower as she logs on to check out the latest LoLCats postings.

I know our library is deceiving in its intended purpose, for it juxtaposes a coffee shop and a Nintendo Wii with nine stories of books, but those shelves aren’t just for taking up space, kids. There are people buried between them, searching in vain for a semblance of silence on a campus inundated with the constant sounds of trains braking, yelling Brickyard Preachers and unwanted musical interludes.

I am trying to study for my French quiz, but the only foreign language in my immediate vicinity is seizure-inducing EuroPop. Now, in her defense, I suppose I could have asked her politely to turn the volume down, but I was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hear me because she is obviously already hearing impaired if she has to listen to her music at 165 decibels.

My concern, dear readers, is not only for my own sanity, but also for your ears. According to Dangerous Decibels, a public health partnership for the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss, 5.2 million 6-19-year-olds have hearing loss directly related to noise exposure. Considering that there aren’t very many 6-year-olds at Coheed and Cambria concerts, I’d have to wager that this unhealthy noise pollution comes from seemingly more benign sources.

This does turn out to be the case, bearing in mind that listening to music on earphones at a standard volume level 5, generates sound that can reach a level of 100 dB, which is loud enough to cause permanent damage after just 15 minutes per day. Think about that the next time you are rocking out to Miley Cyrus.

In short, the next time you enter the classroom and slink to the back with your hood up preparing to be invisible for the next 50-75 minutes, please keep in mind that I, the girl two rows up from you, am only planning on being a moderate slacker today.

I am going to doodle quietly and try to concentrate. Maybe do some of the crossword on page seven. If I wanted to only be counted for my presence alone, I would have joined you in the last row with my own iPod.

So, please forgive me if I ask you to keep your music to yourself, as I just hate to see the soul-searching lyrics of Sublime wasted on those non-slackers in the front row, as well as our insightful and intelligent 70-year-old professor. Because yes, they can hear you too.