In the years since Hosokawa described the Walkman effect, unspoken rules for using headphones in public spaces have developed and are largely respected. Often this simply means knowing when and where to remove them.

What does seem certain is that online shopping will intensify the "Walkman effect," which invites people to leave public spaces and retreat into private ones created by technological change. Like listening to a CD through a set of earphones, shopping on the Web is a solitary act.

walkman. Thus, with the appearance of this novel gadget, all passers-by are inevitably involved in the walkman-theatre, as either actors (holders) or spectators (beholders): ’There is no difference which separates passivity and activity, but only that which distinguishes the different ways of socially marking the space effected in a given (un donné) by a practice’ (de Certeau 1980A, p. 248).

The walkman effect must be measured in terms of this practical mode of operation.