AirPods are my most and least favorite piece of tech.

Not too long after the release of the first version of AirPods, I was just starting to listen to podcasts. I’d always preferred listening to audiobooks. Podcasts gave me access to the news without needing to read letters with my eyes. I could listen to things much more engaging than what I was learning in class. To top it off, it easily slotted into activities I was already doing: walking to my classes, cleaning, or exercising. In fact, I had so much time for listening to podcasts, that even 2-3 hour podcasts rounding up the latest Apple rumors fit into my schedule.

By the time AirPods Pro were released, there was hardly a menial task where I was not listening to podcasts. Noise cancellation enabled me to listen while walking down a busy street, and obsolesced the need for a separate pair of noise cancelling headphones on a plane. In a noisy corner of campus, I could create a distraction free environment by listening to white noise at a moment’s notice.

Some days of the week, several of my favorite podcasts would all release at the same time. I’d listen at higher speeds to reach “inbox zero” anyways. But other days of the week, I would still run out of things to listen to. Clearly, I still didn’t have enough things to listen to.

Now graduated, I joined book clubs from 3 of my social circles: my college friends, my work, my friends in Seattle. Each book was just an average of ~10 hours, but if I listened any faster than 1.5-1.8x I wouldn’t be able to recall enough to meaningfully participate in discussions. After intense periods of reading I would despair that I had a 20-30 hour backlog of podcasts to get through.

I started to delight in long mining/building sessions in Minecraft, I completed all the shrines in Breath of the Wild and started looking for Koroks, played all of Hollow Knight, and acquired 15 golden strawberries in Celeste. Often the winning attempt would be one where I’d paused what I was listening to.

A few years ago I realized that listening to a podcast for my 5 minute walk to the office was stupid. I’d often start my workday with distraction, to finish the 20 minute episode of Planet Money I was on or the like. I resolved to solve this problem.

I started to intentionally take my AirPods off when going through a doorway. Entering my apartment building: take off headphones. Leaving elevator just after entering apartment building: take off AirPods. Entering my apartment itself: take off AirPods once more.

Sometimes I would unintentionally still be listening to something, but slowly my thoughts were the main thing that accompanied me on my way to work.

My backlog of unlistened podcasts grew. I’d stopped attending book clubs a few years ago, only reading the books I was most interested in.

To this day, wearing AirPods puts me in a different state of mind. I get bored and it’s easier to slip into distraction. I can only bear silence when I’m not wearing them.