Why are we wired toward wired headphones?

Look, I remember the 2018 era when AirPods were the status symbol. Middle school hallways were filled with awkward children all playing the part of being cool because…

Look, I remember the 2018 era when AirPods were the status symbol. Middle school hallways were filled with awkward children all playing the part of being cool because we had wireless headphones. The emphasis was on the less: less cord, less tangle, less evidence that we were attached to anything at all. The goal was effortlessness, demonstrated through two white stems sitting in our ears, like we were born with them. We were untouchable.

Here I am, eight years later, walking to class with the white cord swinging around my jacket. I am not alone. Look around Brody, the Beach or even the BSC; you'll see them everywhere, dangling from sweatshirt collars and plugged into laptops. It's official: the cord is back. The practical argument is tempting as it is truthful. It's easy: wired headphones don't need charging nor announce mid-lecture recording that your battery is at 10%.

They don't connect to your roommate's laptop randomly, nor do they refuse to pair to your phone. I have never lost exactly one of them. They cost the same price as a meal at an overpriced cafe, so when mine inevitably frayed after 2 years of use, I didn't particularly mourn my wallet. I don't think practicality explains all of the wire. I think we missed the wire itself.

A wire is honest in that it tells everyone around you that you are listening to something, a clearer signal than an AirPod tucked away into an ear. It is the delicate yet firm "not right now", yet it also runs the other direction: when you hand someone an earbud, you can only drift three feet apart. I calculated that distance on an Amtrak to DC with my best friends as we leaned together so the cord wouldn't pull.

Wireless earbuds can be shared too, but nothing holds you there or tethers you to something warm and real. Walk away, and the song just follows you. Part of me wants to point out that we are all, literally, wired: every sound we've ever heard is a stutter of signals running down a physical line, neurons passing a tone, a note, a song throughout our brains. Is that why the cord feels trustworthy? I can trace it, from my phone to my ears.