#5: The Airpods Problem
how we’ve all been losing awareness without realizing it
This week I wrote about awareness, or rather the lack of it in today’s world. Thinking about this topic made me reflect on all the times I’ve felt completely unplugged. I’ve been traveling consistently for a while now and taken a few vacations along the way, but the only time I’ve felt truly 100% unplugged in the last two years was when I was in Alaska last summer. It was a boys trip and I signed out of email, deleted Slack from my phone, and didn’t touch my laptop once. There was such high contrast between those nine days in Alaska where the sun doesn’t set until midnight to my normal life where I spend a majority of the day staring at a computer screen. I found that by stepping away from my day-to-day routine, I was able to zoom out and audit myself and my decisions. The pic above is from backpacking in Denali and to relive the memories, I also rewatched this one minute montage that cuts between clips way too fast.
The Rise of Airpods
Prior to the Airpods first release in 2016, life sucked. We remained dependent on the rat’s nest of wired earbuds that would somehow always get tangled up anytime we put them back into our pocket or backpack. Just kidding, but it was quite annoying dealing with dangling wires and having to untangle every time. I almost hurt myself at the gym because my phone fell out of my pocket as I was squatting and the earbuds ripped out of my ears. When running, I’d have to deal with the pesky wire repeatedly bumping into my body with every step I took. If I was using my laptop while listening to music, I’d have to take out my earbuds just so I could get up to get a sip of water or use the bathroom. Times have certainly changed.
At first, Airpods were adopted by tech bros and Apple fanboys, but nowadays they’re ubiquitous. They’ve become a part of my everyday life and I use them for hours a day when I’m working out, taking Zoom calls, listening to a podcast while on a walk, or when I’m in a public place and just want to be left undisturbed. For the vast majority of the time, once I place them in my ears, they’re already connected to my device. At the gym, It’s amazing how I can place my phone down and do all my stretching and lifting without any fear of wires tangling or phones dropping. When I’m working at a coffee shop, I can put my Airpod in and the noise canceling feature is good enough to tune out the neighboring gossipers or drown out the background music. Flying has also become more enjoyable since I don’t have to listen to the constant drum of the plane’s engines or crying babies.
Other people must agree with me because adoption has surged in the last few years. It’s crazy to think that a standalone accessory is generating more revenue than Uber, Spotify, Twitter, and Snapchat.
Airpods and Awareness
As much as I value the seamless connecting, noise-canceling, and wireless features of the Airpods, I’ve recently started to think there may be some second order effects of widespread adoption of Airpods (+ other noise-canceling, wireless earbuds).
I would be willing to bet that audio consumption has increased significantly over the last few years with the invention of Airpods, emergence of the podcasting industry, and increased popularity of audiobooks. With wireless earbuds that connect automatically, the friction to get begin consuming audio content has decreased and the listening experience has also improved. The total catalog of audio content has expanded to not only include music, but also podcasts, audiobooks, and even meditation sounds (Calm, Headspace). Combined with the capability of unlimited, instant streaming, there is no shortage of things to listen to.
I didn’t notice how much of my daily habits revolved around using Airpods until last week when I dropped my phone down the elevator shaft and have been phone-less since. I had become used to carrying my phone and Airpods with me everywhere I go. If it’s a typical workday, I have several back-to-back meetings and if I have a few spare minutes, I don’t even bother to take them out. Another habit I noticed is that I would put Airpods in by default whenever walking anywhere. Even if I didn’t have anything in mind that I wanted to listen to beforehand, I would still put them in my ears and then decide on something to listen to - because there’s no shortage of high quality content and it’s instantly accessible.
Once I picked up on this, I remembered some random moments that I’ve observed recently. I’ve noticed drivers that wear Airpods while they drive. Sometimes it’s an Uber driver who doesn’t want to disturb their riders, but there’s also times when it’s just a single driver. I guess the audio quality is slightly better with Airpods than the car’s stereo? I’ve also seen multiple moped drivers in Hawaii whip around with Airpods in their ears. In both cases, I can’t help but think that there is a fine line between enjoying driving and making sure you’re driving safely by being aware of your surroundings.
Airpods give us tunnel vision for our ears
We’ve learned to put our Airpods in when we feel tired, don’t want to be bothered, or simply when we don’t have anything else to do. It’s rare to take a walk without any accompanying song, podcast, or audiobook. We live in a multi-tasking, hyper efficiency, productivity optimizing society which we use to justify constantly consuming audio content whenever possible.
Along with heavy phone usage, we’ve inadvertently dulled our senses and lowered our awareness which has the same effect as those blinders that race horses where. The problem is that while race horses have a defined and structured game to compete in, we live in a free-flowing world where serendipity and opportunity can only occur from a starting position of being aware. If we’re not aware, then we’ll never notice the unexpected things that could lead to something - an opportunity, connection, or anything that we would only describe as lucky.
Being Aware → Serendipity
It’s fairly easy to understand that being more aware can lead to unexpected encounters which can then lead to positive outcomes. It’s hard to actually come up with changes and put them in motion because we have this fundamental tension between taking steps towards our known goals and leaving enough slack in the schedule for the unexpected discovery. For example, if I’m free for a bit, my default action is to think about how to be the most productive with that time, rather than go for an unplugged walk. There’s this internal decision tree in my head that feels like taking an unstructured walk is somehow taking a risk by betting my time to get a positive return on my investment. Having free time to relax and unwind shouldn’t feel like gambling, but the culture of squeezing as much efficiency out of our time makes it feel like it is.
There’s a direct relationship between awareness, serendipity, and perceived luck that is so abstract that I have trouble articulating it. Fortunately, Michael Ashcroft dives into all of this in You can only respond to what you notice - including a fire quote from psychologist Richard Wiseman:
"Unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. [...] Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for."
There’s a time and place for everything. If I’m trying to get deep work done, then I want to lock in without any distractions. However, if I’m doing something that only requires low-medium levels of brain power, then I’ll try to remain more open to my surroundings. According to Michael’s post, awareness can expand and collapse and also be learned. I agree and I also think there’s many tactics to become more aware. In this regard, the Airpods are merely symbolic for all forms of awareness-reducing things like phones, pain relievers, and a back-to-back packed calendar.
Shower thoughts
There are all these terms for describing a realization. Words like ‘epiphany’, ‘aha moment’, ‘light bulb moment’, and ‘shower thought’. I think there’s an actual reason why we associate taking a shower with random revelations. Taking a warm, quiet, uninterrupted shower without anything but ourselves is the ideal environment for these unanticipated thoughts to sprout.
Recognizing that shower thoughts are amazing leads us to the next question of figuring out where else can we try to create the space for shower-like thoughts. The conditions already exist in everyday life and only require micro-adjustments to realize.
Here’s what I’m trying to do for myself:
Get up from my desk and pace around for 1-2 minutes every hour or so.
Scheduling less things in general. I have this tendency to wake up and then try and plan my day out hour by hour, whether it’s work or not. I still think about what I want to accomplish each day, but now I keep it looser and don’t block out every single minute which just seems way too uptight
Stop checking phone when waiting at a red light. I kinda have to do this right now because I don’t have a phone, but I’m hoping this can continue even when/if I get my phone back 🤞
Running without any music. I’ve only done this once and it wasn’t by choice, but it didn’t feel boring at all (which was my worry) so maybe I’ll keep doing this even once I have a phone again
Not checking any electronics when waiting for something to be microwaved. Maybe I’ll try to tidy up in the kitchen or I’ll just stand there and force myself to patiently wait
In modern society, we have instant access to an unlimited content catalog to consume from and tasks to complete. Combined with the pressure to get shit done, it’s become uncommon to wait. While I will always hate wasting my time and am the most impatient person I know, converting waiting time to awareness time is the lowest-hanging fruit I can think of to be more aware of how we feel and to generate more shower-like thoughts. Let’s see how it goes 🤷♂️
📚 What I’m reading
Buffer’s 2022 State of Remote Work Report
There’s a gap between how companies are operating today and what workers want for remote work policies
Compared to a year ago, there’s more certainty as companies are starting to take a concrete stance on remote work policies
There’s still an ongoing debate over whether compensation should be tied to location (city as a proxy for cost of living) or if it should be more tied to the role.
Bloomberg - Hybrid Working as Important as Financial Benefits, Research Suggests
Remote work is creating a greater variance in work flexibility and lifestyles in both directions
With this greater range, workers are starting to weight other factors of the work experience beyond just pay more than before
My take: more flexibility = more freedom for workers = more empowerment for workers = more competitive labor market = better working conditions overall, over time
🎵 What I’m listening to
There’s a specific genre of music that I end up listening only when I’m on roadtripping or traveling. As I was reflecting on past trips where I felt the most aware of my surroundings, I started to re-listen to some of my favorites.
🙏 Shoutouts
Parker, Brian, and Kenny for visiting Hawaii and bringing the stoke to surf, even when it was quite mushy
Everyone I hung out with this Sunday for dealing with me on my first day of no caffeine in a long time
Stanley for giving me the leftover whole fried fish after Thai Temple this Sunday. It was yummy
Leave a comment or message me on Twitter if you have any questions/feedback/ideas!