I was walking around the other day, listening to the sounds of the night, when I had a thought about AirPods. This is not the first time this has happened: previously, I have wondered about the percentage of sound I hear that comes filtered through Apple’s transparency software, a number that is likely shockingly high. On this particular occasion, I thought it merited a blog post, mostly because I invented a word and that made me feel like Matt Webb. The thought was: AirPods are bad because the music invades thoughtspace.
Not in the way that all noise crowds out thoughtspace—external noise impacts thoughtspace by allocating a relatively larger portion of moment-in-time human compute toward world-processing as opposed to thoughtspace. AirPods, on the other hand, project music and sound into thoughtspace directly.
This is because the sound doesn’t interact with the outside world. Instead, it comes through with the same clarity as your thoughts.
Perhaps this is a relatively easy fix then?