Phenomenology of the Walkman

The Walkman and the Primary World of the Senses (1989) is a good example of the application of this project's research method. In this article, Schönhammer uses bracketing or reduction, categories of body, space, time and relation and other phenomenological methods to examine the life-world opened up by the technology of the Walkman. He makes much use of Strauss' Primary World of the Senses, (now out of print but the relevant passage is available), to come to an understanding of the shared space of social possibilities and expectations represented by the shared ambient environment: "Walkman users experience the splitting of lived space and time: They are on a path somewhere between goal directed action and the involvement in the movement of the music." Similar issues of "fragmented space" have been raised in discussions of video conferencing, and similar conclusions have more recently been developed by Michael Bull of the U. of Sussex in his book Sounding out the City: Personal Stereos.