Earbuds in, you walked through the whole neighborhood and missed everything it was saying.

Anything that fills your ears also decides what you cannot hear. That is often a good trade, and sometimes the music is exactly what the walk is for. The cost is just worth knowing: a neighborhood has a sound, made of conversations, birds, a basketball somewhere, someone practicing an instrument badly. None of it reaches you while something better produced is playing.

Take one walk this week with nothing in your ears. Not as a rule, as an experiment. Notice what the place actually sounds like, then decide for yourself which version you want most days.