WALK 4

Walk 4: Cocooned vs. Engaged


Walk 4 was done at The Runway in Playa Vista, California. The Runway is an outside area with small shops, restaurants, eating and sitting areas, and play areas for children. I started my walk at the beginning of the Runway with my air pods on to listen to music on my phone. I started listening to one of my favorite rappers NBA Young Boy. While I was walking I noticed that people seemed to be in their own world. They weren’t really focused on anyone else. I wasn’t focused too much on other people either. I began to enjoy the music and focus more on the music than my surroundings. I really only noticed things that were right in front of me as I was walking. Some things that I noticed were parents walking with their young children and several people walking their dog. I noticed a UPS worker that walked in front of me to deliver a package to a business. There was actually one lady that made eye contact with me and smiled, and I smiled back.


Halfway through the walk, I changed the music to jazz. I was listening to an artist named John Coltrane. I don’t listen to jazz music so I wanted to see if anything would change while walking and listening to music that I don’t listen to. The music wasn’t enjoyable for me, so I wasn’t focused on it like I was focused when listening to the music I liked. During this part of the walk, I seemed to notice things that I made a personal connection to. For example, I noticed 3 young boys sitting on a bench talking. They had on back packs and sports gear. They looked like they had been playing basketball. They caught my attention because it reminded me of when I was younger and my friends and I would go play basketball and hang out together afterwards. I saw a billboard that displayed something about summer, but I noticed it had “LMU” in the corner which stands for Loyola Marymount University. This reminded me of when I used to go to basketball camps at LMU in the summer when I was younger. 


On my second walk when I removed my air pods, I started to notice more things. I found myself looking all around, looking up more and paying attention to the buildings. I noticed colorful art walls that I thought were interesting. I noticed a store named “Modern Animal”. The name stood out to me because I like dogs. There was a sign on the door that said they were closed on June 19th but would be opened the next day. I was curious why they were closed then wondered if they were closed in honor of Juneteenth. I also noticed a store that didn’t have a name on the building. I walked up to see what kind of business it was, and it had a paper posted on the door with the name, “Dan Modern Tea”. I had not noticed either one of these stores on my first walk when I was listening to music. One thing that stood out to me when I wasn’t wearing the air pods was that although there were a large number of people walking and sitting in this area, it was fairly quiet. You could hear some people talking, but most of the people there were walking alone or sitting and eating alone. I also noticed that people weren’t really on their phones, which was surprising to me. As Michael Bull described in his article No Dead Air! The iPod and the Culture of Mobile Listening we live in a sound-consuming culture where reproduced sounds have become a major part of our daily lives (i.e., music, social media platforms, etc.). To see the majority of the people just walking or sitting and experiencing the environment I thought it was very interesting. They seemed to be in a relaxed and calm state and were there to enjoy the peaceful environment on a nice summer day. As stated before, everyone seemed to be in their own world and not making eye contact with others. 





Pictures of what I noticed on first half of the walk with air pods listening to music I like









Pictures of what I noticed on second half of the walk with air pods listening to music I didn’t like










Pictures of what I noticed without air pods

















Comments

  1. Marianna PiedrahitaJune 24, 2025 at 11:46 AM

    It's super interesting that the photos you took with the songs you didn't like and without air pods in were slightly similar in the way that you captured more people or busier urban areas vs with your air pods and the music you liked you captured emptier sidewalks and infrastructure along with close ups of where you are. I also would've loved to see what you saw and heard through video on your walk without air pods! I know jazz isn't everyone's forte, but if you're interested the artist Berlioz explores modern jazz with house music and some hip hop influence! Your music genre choices reminded me of them! :)

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  2. Aaliyah M. ReyesJune 25, 2025 at 11:01 AM

    Hi! I find it interesting that when you listened to music (Jazz) that you usually don't listen to, you focused on personal aspects. I would think that it would be the opposite because often times when you're listening to music you enjoy, you can tie fond memories to it. It would be interesting if you did this walk while listening to music that you know for a fact you dislike or hate, to see if that also helps you focus on personal elements or if it instead makes you stray away from that.

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  3. Aubrey WittmerJune 25, 2025 at 1:23 PM

    Hi Jonathan! I found it interesting how you noticed more visually when you were more engaged and weren't listening to music, how you saw things like the mural on the wall, because you would think to see that when you are listening to music and still looking around. I can also notice how different your images are between when you were listening to music you enjoyed and when you were listening to music you did not like. It did seem to be that you were more focused when you were listening to music you did like rather than didn't. especially with how many pictures you took between the two.

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  4. Caitlin pJune 25, 2025 at 3:23 PM

    Hey Jonathan,
    It is very interesting, the dynamic in the pictures are all completely different. I feel like I can almost hear the music in each picture. With the music you didn't like, your photos almost reflect that, they aren't as detailed or interesting as the other. Your most well done photos seem to be the ones where you weren't listening to anything. I believe you must've noticed more things and took everything into account. Overall I really enjoyed this walk.

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