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Comment by baxter001 | Hacker News Reader

"signalling status with ear-accessories Airpods Pro are gonna do a better job these days."

Excellent point, one doesn't need an earphone that looks like traditional jewellery if the earphone is already fulfilling the purpose of traditional jewellery.

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While status signaling is certainly a part of the purpose of jewelry, it also serves aesthetic purposes that earphones generally completely fail at. Those Airpods don't match your necklace, or harmonize with the green accents in the pattern of your skirt, or with the blue of your eyes.

Earrings can also signal higher status than Airpods; any middle-class schlub can spend $250 on earbuds. That pales next to the numbers that earrings made from precious metals and gems can quietly whisper to anyone who notices them.

Can people tell the difference between expensive "real" jewelry and less expensive fake jewelry (not the $10 fakes, but the more expensive fake stuff)?

probably most people can't. But historically and still today among Arabs, a women's jewelry is one of the few things she absolutely owns. In that way, gold jewelry serves as insurance against divorce and other stuff like that.

egypturnash, "quietly whisper"! We almost named our earrings whisperings.

That portmanteau is so so close to working and yet so far, no matter what gyrations you go through! Must’ve been frustrating.

Jewelry isn't always for signaling status. Some people appreciate the art and craftsmanship of it.

"I'm the type that appreciates art and craftsmanship" is signalling.

Assuming that whoever bought it did think / say that sentence to begin with. A lot of the time the purchase is driven by the desire to find self-actualization, to borrow from Maslow. Even if it's driven by a need for esteem, who's to say that's not a worthwhile goal?

I have paintings hanging in my house, in rooms that literally nobody will ever see. But I enjoy having them there. Is that practical? No. Is it signaling? Also no. But I enjoy them for whatever inexplicable reason.

Not everybody chooses what they wear with other people's opinions in mind. Some people might find this incomprehensible, but I'm not sure how to convince them otherwise.

Now that you've told us all, job done!

Sorry, I couldn't resist. In fact I admire and agree with what you said.

Yes, I will go take them down now :)

Then you are left as I am, a house with no paintings, posters, wall decorations of any kind! All such things are clutter to me, and in fact, I even reject re-painting the walls.

I fear that I will notice the room is smaller, after that coating of paint.

I'm worried that now I'm signalling, that I'm not signalling, which is signalling now. Maybe.

So I support you, fellow non-signalling, and non-non-signalling kin! Yes, you can have paintings, just because you like them.

(Please don't tell me that I'm signalling by non-non-signalling!)

A signal does not require conscious intent. What you choose to wear says something about you whether you intend to or not.

I don't think it usually is. It's not like earrings are sold exclusively at jewellery stores. You can find them at drug stores, grocery stores, gas stations, random street vendors, and all sorts of other places. You can easily buy earrings for less than $10, and less than $5, too.

That's also true with lots of other fashion accessories.

It's definitely true with headphones as well. Aesthetics were an enormous part of the Beats brand, and a bunch of other headphone companies. If aesthetics weren't important, you'd see more people walking around with monoprice headphones.

@baxter001, good point. But we don't see our earrings as an alternative to AirPods. We see them as different-occasion hearables. At parties, or meetings or any situation where AirPods would not only look incongruous but be a social faux pas as well.

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