Walkman effect (original) (raw)

The Walkman effect refers to the way music listened to via headphones allows the user to gain more control over their environment. It was coined by International Research Center for Japanese Studies Professor in an article of the same name published in Popular Music in 1984. While the term was named after the dominant portable music technology of the time, the Sony Walkman, it generically applies to all such devices and has been cited numerous times to refer to more current products such as the Apple iPod.