Hey! If you enjoy listening to music on the go, chances are you own a pair of headphones.
Headphones are needed to drown out the noise of the world.
If you work in an office with a person who is a VERY LOUD typer, or you're working out at the gym, or even if you're just trying to drown out the noise of a crying baby on a bus, headphones are a crucial item to throw in your bag alongside your purse and keys.
I've always worn in-ear headphones. For years I wore Apple's in-ear white headphones, mostly because they came free with a new phone and I'd be too lazy to buy a different pair. They were pretty easy to lose, and so I often ended up having to buy other cheap pairs of in-ears.
But here's the thing I've recently come to realise: In-ear headphones are the worst.
My situation this morning tangled headphones grrr
First of all, they tangle so ridiculously easily.
Even if the headphones are just sitting there on your desk, or in your pocket for five minutes, you pick them up and they're a tangled mess. You try to piece together how they got that tangled – did somebody take them from you and bunch them all up just to mess with you? Are they designed to loop around and tie up? Will you spend the next 10 years of your life untangling shitty tangled headphones?
In-ear headphones also fall out – or are yanked out – of your ears ALL OF THE TIME. Even the ones that claim to go all the way in and the ones that claim to clip behind your ear still somehow find a way to drop out. In-ear headphones are always yanked out of your ear, too, when they clip on to the corner of a desk, or on a stranger's jacket on the train.
Oh, and they break constantly and are easy to lose, so there's that too.
When I realised how much in-ear headphones suck, I discovered something very important: Massive, over-ear headphones are so, so much better.
Hear me out: I know over-ear headphones are not a ~new~ thing.
I've always seen people wear over-ear headphones and thought it looked a little over-the-top – like, OK, I get it, you like music, but must you wear those massive things on your head?
But then I decided to just run with it and buy a big pair – and I’ve never looked back.
First of all, they just look so much prettier. You can buy pairs in so many different colours, patterns, and designs – they can match the colour of your phone or lipstick! Basically they just *look* better, which is not the most important thing, but a handy bonus.
Second, the music quality and volume of over-ear headphones makes listening to music so much more enjoyable. They're also harder to misplace and don't break every five minutes, making it a better financial decision to invest in one good pair of proper headphones that last than constantly buying/replacing old in-ear ones that get lost or fall apart.
Oh, and they don't tangle up like in-ear headphones, so you don't waste 100 million years of your life untangling crappy iPhone headphones.
But perhaps most important, big over-ear headphones drown out the noise of the world so much better than in-ear headphones. People seem to not bother you as much when you're wearing them – which is perfect for when you're simply not in the mood to talk to anyone.
i wore big headphones today and no one has tried talking to me. mission accomplished.