The headphone jack wasn’t dead. I was partying
In 2016, Apple came up with the cool idea to remove the headphone jack in the iPhone 7. The rest of the manufacturers did not want to be less, and they were progressively removing the connector to switch to fully wireless. Apple did great as it became the leading wireless headphone brand with its AirPods. Of the rest of the manufacturers we cannot say the same, but what did happen is that a short time later, walking down the street listening to music through a cable became a detector of social outcasts. Now, thanks to the generation Z, that could change. As reported by Rory Satran of The Wall Street Journal, the “Z gene” is fighting for the return of wired headphones. And best of all, there is no single reason.
Recently, celebrities like Bella Hadid or even some famous TikTokers have been seen recording their videos using wired headphones. According to them, they are more practical, because you do not have to worry about the battery or the interference that affects wireless connectivity. Fashion has been spreading, and on the Internet there are already all kinds of reasons why many users are reverting to wired headphones.
Environmentalism, fashion, aesthetics … there are reasons for the return of wired headphones
But beyond the utility, the best reasons defended by these users are the aesthetic. The earphones of a lifetime, with their bundled cable and a bit of grime, give a slightly grunge, movement that these kids are bringing back, because again, gather everything you need to break with the establishment current. On the other hand, going down the street with the same look as a Wall Street broker is not an idea that attracts a generation that since it was born, has not seen more than one economic crisis after another.
Finally, there are the environmentalists and the paranoid. On the one hand, there are those who defend that wired headphones have a increased durabilityAs they do not have a wear element like the battery, which limits the life of the product, which is totally true. And finally there are those who have fear of radiation characteristic of wireless headphones, although all the health organizations that we know certify that today, the waves that come from Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth technology are safe.
For whatever reason, what is appreciated about Generation Z is a feeling of nostalgia around the time of the turn of the century. Despite the fact that these boys could not enjoy that time, it is understandable that they feel a certain admiration for those years. After all, the childhood of this generation has been marked by the constant paradigm shifts and for the information saturation. The world we live in today is much more complex now than it was when they were born. That they want to go against the current or want to lead a change is not at all worrying, since all generations do. But if what they are trying to tell us is that technology is not going to give us the happiness we are looking for, the most certain is that we will end up agreeing with them.
