By Cameron Coward

The Tangible Media Group within MIT’s Media Lab is focused on researching human interaction with the gadgets and gizmos around us, and how that technology affects social dynamics. Their research has led to a number of interesting developments that we’ve featured in the past here on Hackster, but this is one you’re either going to love or hate. Amos Golan’s LeakyPhones are headphones that let you share your music with a stranger at a glance — and that let them share their music with you.

Golan’s motivation for this project is rooted in our current social dynamics, or lack thereof. In the past, starting a conversation with a stranger was a simple matter of saying “hello” when you made eye contact for a moment. These days, many of us spend our time in public with our eyes glued to our smartphones and our ears covered with headphones. For many of you, that’s a good thing — you don’t want strangers talking to you anyway. But, there’s no denying the effect it’s having on spontaneous interactions.