> A lot of people wear airpods around even if they're not actively using them, right?
Do they?
Do they?
I use mine in noise-cancelling mode all the time, without music/podcasts/anything. But the noise-cancelling is definitely active.
Always when I'm in the subway, along busy streets full of honking and emergency vehicles, and so forth.
Makes urban life much more tolerable.
I often wear one set to transparency when I’m alone and have a podcast going or something. Ideal for something like a grocery store but still leaves me with full awareness. They also detect if I start speaking and automatically pause whatever is playing.
Loud noise suppression does a temporary switchover when a loud noise happens to try and protect your hearing.
totally understandable as the "right to be left alone" or privacy is essential but undeniably curtailed when in public.
i hope you can appreciate the collective imperative here and acknowledge that it would be super fucked up if everyone would be wearing headphones in public.
it's just fucking with social interaction; maybe that's the point