Using headphones at night - A serious concern?

+1 on shootniron......

If I'm in public, I only use one earphone in my "weak" ear....not only do I still hear what I need to, I can even carry on a conversation & not miss my favorite show/podcast.
 
I'm sure the reasonable thing to do is to put on the headphones so that you don't disturb your partner.
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My wife would kill me dead right there. No I will get my lazy rear end up and go out to the living room and do whatever. Never wake up the OWMBO ever.

Use of sensored lites outside is a dead giveaway for someone trying to get inside. then there is the dogs, then there is the camera smile it isnt candid :) LOL did you know you can get wireless cameras that can be put almost anywhere? :) and are very affordable.
 
I dont think that it would be a good thing for any of us to live our lives like we are in a combat zone pulling sentry duty. At some point, anyone can begin to overthink the idea of "situational awareness". After-all its not some hyper technical issue, just plain ole "paying attention".


If you are really concerned about it, re-enforce your bedroom door and door frame.
 
I live out amongst the trees at a dead-end circle and at night I'm out with Maggie, my 85lb american bulldog. Not too worried about it.

Now back when I lived in philly? If I was actually worried because I was in a specific area, I wouldn't, but in general I'd wear them. Can't always live on yellow.
 
To Anthrax

This is a great question and not to hijack your thread but in general headphones are notorious for creating a situation in which our guards are let down.

I lived in Brooklyn, NY for about 5 years and what I learnt from there was that situation awareness is almost important than being armed and oblivious. I have seen many women on the jug with headphones and totally oblivious to their surrounding. The element of surprise is the first step of any potential assault.

To answer your question, I have used headphones in the house so the wife can enjoy her beautiful sleep but I have always kept it low enough to hear any unwanted visitors .:D:D:D:D:D
 
Use the headphones and live life on the edge.
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This is what I would do.

If you are that paranoid though, you could just take your computer and wait by the door or window with gun in hand. Or just skip the movies and go to sleep with your girlfriend. Or take turns with her every 4 hours or so standing guard while the other sleeps...
 
Unless you are bedding down for the night and leaving the front door WIDE OPEN I don't see a issue with it.
 
I have a similar problem, i have trouble getting to sleep and would like to try earplugs, but that sounds like a terrible idea when it comes to home defense.

The way i see it is, i would hope an alarm system would wake you through your headphones/earplugs, and if you don't have an alarm system that's more of a problem than watching a movie with headphones on. An intruder could always get lucky and enter your home quietly, nice clean break on a window, through the basement, break in timed with a car driving by or a lightning strike. Those last couple are pretty far odds, but since when has good/bad odds affected our decisions to protect ourselves? that's a gun control talking point.

Personally, my home doesn't have an alarm system and i wish it did. I've been shopping around but our money is stretched out as it is. Got some loud mouth dogs though... and i don't sleep with the earplugs.
 
Interesting thread. My question is, is it that common that someone breaks into your house at night in the US?. I'm talking from the perspective of someone who hasn't ever been to America.

Over here we do have burglars, of course, but they usually prefer to break into houses whenever they are sure their occupants are away, so they can steal comfortably. This, however, has changed a bit during the last years, since now we have "imported" criminality coming from the former East Block European countries. Those are organized criminals, in a lot of cases with a military background. They're violent and they don't care whether the family is inside or not. And yes, there have been a couple of cases of the burglars being shot by the owners, and other cases where the occupants were unarmed and the consequences have been disastrous.
 
Nordeste, most criminals in America do still avoid breaking in when the home is occupied. However, in some instances they pick occupied homes, or just don't care if it is occupied.

Home invasions are not the common occurence that internet forums make them out to be. They do happen, but most often when they do it is accidental. Usually the burglar thinks the place is empty and gets a suprise.
 
Thank you, MikeNice. I guessed it was pretty much as you say, that it's not that common and people just lays on the "just in case" policy.

Owning a handgun in Spain is uncommon for a citizen unless there are very solid reasons for him/her to apply for it. People like judges, prosecutors, jewellers, gun shop owners or people who has been threatened/blackmailed by organized crime can have them, but that's it. People can, however, apply for a "sports license" and still have hanguns, but you gotta keep them in a proper locker at home and cannot carry them on the street. They can just travel from your house to the range, and back. The last case of burglars breaking in a house and assaulting the family, ended up with the Head of the family retrieving one of his guns (a .22, by the way) and shooting two of the assailants. One was pronounced dead on scene, the other was hit and fled (arrested quickly afterwards), together with the third one, uninjured. In this case they carried knives and batons, but make your guess if they had firearms (which they sometimes do). The defender still had to prove in court that he had to use lethal force because there was no other option. That's as stupid as our system is.

Different thing is the countryside, where hunting licenses and shotguns/rifles are more or less common. In the cities, most of us live in 2-3 bedrooms apartments. There's not much of the suburban culture with single-family houses, except in the typical wealthy areas or the countryside.
 
is it that common that someone breaks into your house at night in the US?.
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Day, night, anytime. I live out in the country, the next door neighbor (1/4 mile away) was out in the garden, 2 guys went into the house and stole their things then tied em up when they walked in on em. House is now with new occupants.

We get folks drive out to our area and look for stuff to take. Gotta lock everything up or it disappears. In the city folks are shooting each other.
 
Apologies for digging this up, but i ran into a similar situation with my "music" being to loud for my neighbors ( there lucky im a peaceful man). Either way my music was essentially deminished to a set of headphones or face eviction. I searched around and found these wirelesss Altec Lansing back beat stereo headset. They have an "open mic" button, that once pushed faintly allows the ambiance/sound around you to seep into your music. They are perfect for jogging/biking as well, just pop the open mic on when traffic gets thick....
 
A loud alarm is always a fall back.

But as an old guy from a prior generation, I see this as a simple matter of choice and trade-off. If you choose to listen to something with headphones on, you have chosen to limit your situational awareness.

If you don't think that's a good idea, maybe you'll want to consider going somewhere where you could listen without headphones and without disturbing anyone, as markj suggested. Or you could read a book.

Sometimes trying to have everything all at once isn't going to work out.
 
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