Mathias Busekist
People are having none of it.
A new travel behavior, provocatively dubbed “bare beating,” is drawing criticism from commuters and policymakers alike — not for its name, but for its noise.
The trend refers to the increasingly common habit of playing music or videos aloud in public spaces without using headphones, a practice that’s testing the patience of travelers on trains, planes, and buses across the globe.
While the phenomenon is far from new, its spread is accelerating — fueled by a kind of social permissiveness where one offender seems to embolden the next. In the UK, where a hushed, eyes-ahead demeanor has long defined the unspoken rules of public transport, the reaction has been particularly fierce.
The Liberal Democrats, a British opposition party, are now calling for fines of up to £1,000 (around $1,330) for offenders. Their proposal follows a recent poll showing that nearly 40% of Brits have encountered loud media playback “often” or “sometimes,” yet more than half admit they would feel uncomfortable asking someone to turn it down.
Though it remains to be seen whether such penalties will ever be enforced, the outcry points to growing public frustration with unwanted noise in shared spaces. Meanwhile, authorities in London are already cracking down in a related battle — this one aimed at street performers in Leicester Square.
Long a magnet for tourists and buskers alike, the square has seen growing complaints from local workers who say the relentless repetition of pop covers is becoming unbearable. A judge recently sided with them, describing the onslaught of live music — often featuring renditions of Ed Sheeran — as a form of “psychological torture,” according to the BBC.
As a result, Westminster Council has announced a ban on busking in the area, saying it had been left with “no choice” after repeated noise grievances.
Whether it’s in the echo of a subway carriage or the open air of a public square, the message is growing louder: silence, it seems, is making a comeback.