Nine Reasons to Reconsider the AirPods

If you have a recent version of the iPhone (or most phones, really) then you know they have done away with the headphone jack. It’s annoying, because you have to use that dongle thingy (when did dongle become a word people were just expected to KNOW?). And you can’t charge your phone and use earphones at the same time. Plus, I worry the jostling might damage the charging port, which would be a major concern for a phone that requires charging. The ostensible solution appears to be the AirPods, the proprietary Bluetooth Apple earphones.

But honestly, there are quite a few concerns about these conspicuous earpieces, and I think you might reconsider buying a set for these reasons:

1. They look so, so dorky.

In fact, they look like electric toothbrush heads for your ears, as this astute Twitter-user pointed out.

2. They are quite expensive

At over $200 CAD, they definitely aren’t cheap.

3. The sound quality (i.e. their reason for being) is not great.

With user reviews averaging 6.2/10, you probably aren’t paying for the sweet sound.

4. They are built to be disposable.

About 18 months is the longest lifespan you will see from them before the batteries stop holding a charge and they become unusable for longer than 10 minutes at a time.

5. You can’t recycle them.

Once they become junk, there is the problem of HOW to dispose of them. Because Apple products are notoriously hard to take apart, they are almost impossible to recycle. 

6. They are a 1000 year commitment for the earth.

If you throw them out – and since they are designed to break and they can’t be recycled, what else will you do? – they will just sit in a landfill for up to a MILLENIA.

7. Maybe they’ll start a fire in a trash compactor.

Apple products seem to have a problem with starting fires when people try to dispose of them.

8. Are they really safe for your health?

There are concerns about Bluetooth headphones in general causing cell damage. Although the “AirPods cause cancer” stories that were going around a few months ago were largely overblown, 250 experts have signed a petition expressing concerns that more research needs to be done about the effects of high levels of radio-frequency radiation near sensitive ear and brain tissue.

9. Maybe you’ll become a meme.

Wearing them could make you the victim of a vicious meme-ing.