I’m sure I’m not the only one who saw that news article making its rounds on the internet recently. It said that the Liberal Democrats wish to fine teenagers who do not use headphones on public transport such as buses and trains when watching TikTok videos or blasting music loudly.
Should we ban loud music on public transport?
I get it. We all hate when there is a group of 12 noisy teenagers on the top level of a double decker bus right at the front, yelling and screaming along to their music at the top of their voices. It’s overstimulating and loud and nobody enjoys that except the noisy teenagers. That’s annoying. When there is a 13-year-old sitting behind you on the bus and she has her phone volume on full blast and she’s listening to TikTok videos from the most annoying content creators, it’s infuriating. I’m sure we’d all like to fine those people for not learning basic etiquette.
However, there are positives to these infuriating individuals, limited though they may be. When I was 16, I started going to sixth form and I had to take a bus by myself for the first time. I had to do this every day, and it was terrifying. I had never taken a bus by myself before and suddenly I had to do it every day with little to no warning. I couldn’t afford to get data on my phone, so I had nothing to distract myself with for the 15–40 minute bus ride. I would get onto the same bus at around the same time and the same people would get on it every single day. By the end of the first week, the bus journey still made me anxious, but I knew what to expect.
Music can be a welcome distraction
Every day that I got onto that bus, there would be a boy near the back of the bus, and he would listen to music during the journey. I don’t know whether his headphones were broken, whether the volume of his music was too high, or whether his headphones were unplugged slightly, but every day I could hear his music behind me at the back of the bus. It wasn’t loud enough for me to be able to label what the music was, but I could hear a beat and music every single day.
When the lady with her massive dog got on, I would start to panic because I have a really bad phobia of dogs but if I tried to distract myself by trying to figure out what music the boy was listening to, I calmed down enough to be able to sit through the entire bus journey with the dog in full view. That may not mean much to most people, but I’m not even able to walk on the same path as a dog because of my phobia. To be able to sit on a bus with a dog in full view and only panic about the possibility of being late to class was huge. The random stranger’s music helped me an awful lot despite being something that most people would see as a nuisance.
Make space for adolescent joy
Once, I was on a bus with my father and we had to sit on the top deck because the lower deck was full. It was a very busy bus so neither of us was having a good time, because we don’t deal with abundances of people or loud noises very well.
All of a sudden, this group of teenagers at the front started belting out songs and playing them from somebody’s phone. Usually, this would irritate me because blasting loud music on a crowded bus is impolite, but the music was good, and they were pretty good at singing, so I just enjoyed the show. All of these teenagers had great big grins on their faces, and they genuinely seemed to be having a lot of fun. I turned to my father, and he seemed to be having fun too because some of these songs were his favourites from when he was younger.
We both usually absolutely hate loud, annoying teenagers, especially on busy buses, but it was really fun to witness. Teenage joy just seems like such a rare commodity these days.
I understand why people want to ban loud music and loud videos on public transport and fine people for not using headphones, but I think there are also benefits to not doing so. Let teenagers have their loud music and loud TikTok videos and Instagrams and everything else. The loudness may be annoying, but it is a sign of adolescent joy and maybe we can deal with a little bit of inconvenience and annoyance if it means there is more joy in the world.
