The trend that is worse than tight pants:

Carroll was right: listening to an mp3 player/ipod while skating is lame.
I suppose it would be acceptable if you are skating somewhere by yourself, or skating down the street to go somewhere. But when 10 out of 20 dudes skating a park are listening to mp3 players, pulling them out every few seconds to select a song or whatever, the world has gone insane. We truly are living in some kind of FUTUREWORLD.

However, it's a retro-future world where everyone wears sneakers and jeans that look like they're fron 1965.
Maybe I am just an old Jewish guy. And I will admit that I used to listen to magnetic cassette tapes while skating flat at Union Square. However, I was usually the only individual skating there. Besides, I needed a walkman because I used public transportation--specifically, a subway. If you drive to a park and then listen to your ipod while skating--you can't go without listening to music for any amount of time? What about just listening to the ambient noise of skating (see Listen video)? If you insist on listening to an mp3 player while skating, you are indeed saying to everyone skating the spot, "don't approach me! I'm in my own little world! meh!"
This occured to me while, as often happens at small, semi-crowded public parks, I was waiting to try something on the ledge. Out of nowhere I hear
"He's the only one they call FeeeeeeelGoooooooooooood, YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!"
Some kid was listening to "Dr. Feelgood" loud as fuck. I almost said "Bro, is that "Dr. Feelgood?" but I opted not to because he might have thought I was clowning his taste in music. Everyone's so sensitive these days. I would never clown anyone's taste in music; it's way too personal and subjective. It's one of the three things I will not criticize or even discuss at work: musical taste, religion, or politics.