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The AirPods Effect
How earbuds influence our beliefs and push us apart
*Note: This piece originally appeared on The Escape, my new Substack.
A little time away can be clarifying. When you’ve had a break from a place, you’re able to see it with fresh eyes. You notice things that routine and familiarity had rendered invisible.
During my last trip home to the U.S., one of the things that jumped out at me was the number of people with AirPods in their ears.
Where I live, in southwest Germany, AirPods are far less common. It was jarring to see so many little white globules dripping out of the ears of those around me in coffee shops, in grocery stores, and pretty much everywhere else I went during my trip to suburban Detroit. Whether young or old, chic or grungy, athleisured or denimed, everyone seemed to be sporting some type of earphone.
Americans are speaking less and less to one another. The number of spoken words uttered by the average person fell by 28% between 2005 and 2019.
The popularity of AirPods is nothing new. But as the functionality of our tech-connected ear gear has improved — and as podcasts have exploded into one of the most consumed forms of media in America —…
