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It’s not fashionable to wear AirPods anymore, so there. Besides, they “radiate” you and anyway, all the best celebrities have gone back to wired earbuds.
According to the Wall Street Journal, AirPods have “become too widespread to be cool.” Celebrities you haven’t heard of, have apparently been taking a stand against all wireless earbuds, and staying firmly wired.
While this is not in any way the reason for them doing it, they are apparently being photographed for an Instagram account called @wireditgirls. Plus, again according to the Wall Street Journal, if you need to, you can watch TikTok videos that helpfully explain how to use wired earbuds.
It is true that there are certain practical issues, though. First and unquestionably foremost, is the issue of price.
If you can’t afford to drop anywhere north of $129 for a pair of AirPods, you can’t afford to do it. So you have use cheaper corded ones, which at least will sound better than cheap counterfeit AirPods do.
Then if you can afford them, then there is still no question that you have other things you could be spending your $129, $179, or $249 on.
The Wall Street Journal also posits, though, that wired earbuds are far harder to lose than wireless ones. Plus, they’re infinitely easier to charge — since you never have to charge them at all.
Reportedly, there is also a claim that radiation from AirPods can harm you. “Not this again,” the Food and Drug Administration didn’t say, but might as well have done. The FDA does say Bluetooth headphones are harmless.
So it really only comes down to the charge in the battery and the charge to your bank account.
But beyond those practical issues, there is a claim that using wired earbuds means you’re telling the world you don’t buy into this whole keeping-up-with-tech vibe. Or rather, that you pick your precise technology period very carefully.
The Wall Street Journal talked with Shelby Hull, owner of the @wireditgirls account and marketing coordinator for Rostrum Records.
Hull said that the wired movement is part of “this huge romanticization and resurgence of the Tumblr era.” If you missed that era and foolishly believe Tumblr still matters, then let us explain that it translates to 2014. Apparently.
“[It’s] where people are looking at music as a whole aesthetic experience rather than just practical consumption,” said Hull. “Low-fi tech is seen as more of an aesthetic experience and it contributes to that cool-factor.”
