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The AirPods Effect

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Re: The AirPods Effect

#71

Post by pesus »

chihuahua wrote: post #15
lorecore wrote: post #4

> People now wear their AirPods all day at the office. They keep them in while ordering and paying for things in stores and supermarkets. I wonder how people do this or if my ears are just shaped weird, because I can’t even sit totally still at my desk without them falling out.

There's a pretty big difference between AirPods and AirPods Pro. The former just sort of loosely sit in the outer part of your ear. The latter form a pretty good seal in your ear canal. That's how you get good noise cancelling with Airpods Pro. The loose fit of the regular AirPods and the wired EarPods never made any sense to me.

It also depends on the person and the model of Pros, strangely enough. The first generation stayed in my ears perfectly, but the second generation does not.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#72

Post by teruakohatu »

alberth wrote: post #69

Tinnitus I swear my tinnitus is a result of use of AirPods. I never wore any type of earphones ever. Then started using AirPods for calls, during workouts or on a plane. A year later I developed tinnitus and the only thing that changed in my life was wearing AirPods. I’m no doctor, and who knows what caused my tinnitus. But it’s irreversible. I constantly hear a humming ring now and it’s super distracting, especially…

> I swear my tinnitus is a result of use of AirPods.

Have you had your hearing checked out by an audiologist? Any hearing loss?

Hearing loss (age) and damage (loud noise) are the most likely culprits.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#73

Post by saghm »

tptacek wrote: post #5

I don't remember any time in my life where it ever felt normal to me to randomly talk to strangers. I went to London when I was a teenager and was made uncomfortable by how chatty the cab drivers were. Later, I worked at a startup and my boss was preternaturally gifted at chatting up strangers, which he did habitually in every setting we were in when we traveled; on the plane, on the bus from the airport, &c. I remem…

As someone who is often pretty introverted, I feel like wireless earbuds just give me a way to act like I already wanted to with less friction. I pretty rarely want to talk to random strangers, not because I have anything against them, but because I just find it takes a lot of energy for me to do so (probably not in small part from having to replicate a lot of what comes naturally from others in terms of social signal reading with extra effort). People seem to be a lot less likely to randomly initiate conversations with me when I'm out in public with my earbuds on, and that saves me from having to decide between feeling even more tired after going out or the awkwardness of trying to cut off the conversation short to avoid spending energy on it.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#74

Post by yesitcan »

alberth wrote: post #69

Tinnitus I swear my tinnitus is a result of use of AirPods. I never wore any type of earphones ever. Then started using AirPods for calls, during workouts or on a plane. A year later I developed tinnitus and the only thing that changed in my life was wearing AirPods. I’m no doctor, and who knows what caused my tinnitus. But it’s irreversible. I constantly hear a humming ring now and it’s super distracting, especially…

You forgot to mention the part where this happened recently. You’ll habituate soon and forget about it.

Source: got bad tinnitus from motorcycling, became depressed with suicidal ideation and then got over it.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#75

Post by saghm »

dav43 wrote: post #17
tptacek wrote: post #5

I don't remember any time in my life where it ever felt normal to me to randomly talk to strangers. I went to London when I was a teenager and was made uncomfortable by how chatty the cab drivers were. Later, I worked at a startup and my boss was preternaturally gifted at chatting up strangers, which he did habitually in every setting we were in when we traveled; on the plane, on the bus from the airport, &c. I remem…

My take, is that this effect has removed a lot of the micro communications we make - not necessarily random conversations. It’s taken away random moments that may trigger a short small conversation with strangers. In part it’s taking away the shared experience in public and making it “my” experience.

Sure, but when the only reason I had those random moments with strangers were because they wanted them, and refusing to engage is considered "rude", I'd argue that it already was just someone else's "my" experience before, just "shared" because of societal peer pressure. What changed is that now I have a way to actually assert my boundaries without being the rude one.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#78

Post by saghm »

nozzlegear wrote: post #26
MBlume wrote: post #2

I'd much rather be surrounded by people wearing earbuds than have people watching tiktoks through their phone speakers on the subway

That just sounds like another version of what the author is talking about: using [device] to avoid human interaction.

Sure, in the same way that taking a leak in a toilet and taking a leak on the sidewalk are both ways of avoiding wetting your pants

Re: The AirPods Effect

#79

Post by inigyou »

cadamsdotcom wrote: post #70

To me it’s just a proxy for the amount of economic activity in a place. Every time I go to Melbourne airport in Australia, I’m shocked that nobody - nobody - has their laptop out. In Sydney a few people do. But go to any airport in the US and if not a majority are on laptops at least a large minority seem to be.. So yes - airpods in ears, laptops in airports, city lights at night. Just a sign of how plugged in everyo…

Not all activity is economic activity and not all economic activity is valuable. People outside the US aren't generally expected to work 24/7

Re: The AirPods Effect

#80

Post by HDBaseT »

inigyou wrote: post #68
HDBaseT wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and people still try and suggest public transport is great, when its a hellhole..

because it has other people on it? personally I find that sitting down and getting passively carried near to my destination is way less stressful than paying attention to the road that whole time - not to mention finding parking. You don't end up exactly at your destination, but a little bit of walking is good for you. Assuming you live in a locale with a reasonably efficient system. I've heard some horror stories ab…

I've never caught a train nor a bus in my life and intend to never do so. I value my privacy and don't want to get stabbed or sit on a chair where someone has pissed all over.
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