what do these two sentences mean ?

Actually , I tried to understand but I need some help

-1-
" From the beginning, it seems, headphones have been a technology of submission (to commands) and denial (of commotion). When World War II ended, submission-and-denial was exactly what returning veterans craved when they found themselves surrounded by the clamor and demands of the postwar suburbia. "

-2-
"But the downside is plain, too: it’s antisocial. The shared experience of listening with others is not unlike the cultural rituals of communal eating. Music may not have the primal necessity of food, but it is something people commonly ingest together."

This is the whole text
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B91Dq4140uwUcGlZeEg4TmNqUkE/view?usp=sharing