There are already cheap hearing aids. Airpod Pros will grow the market since they’re good for people getting started and okay for occasional use, but they aren’t good for wearing all day: too distracting for people you’re talking with, not enough battery life.
But now that Apple entered the market, maybe they will come out with wireless headphones that are more suitable?
Until wearing Airpods during conversation is normalized, this will be a problem. Why?
I tried conversing with somebody recently, and they were completely ignoring me. Then I saw the Airpods. Of course. They have music or something else going on.
For now, Airpods = "I am listening to something other than you right now." So yes, if somebody were wearing Airpods as a hearing device, I'd probably not talk to them because of that expectation.
Offer not valid if it's your in-laws, nurse, kid's teacher, your teacher, civil servant who you need to convince, and overall anyone in a position of authority or otherwise capable of gatekeeping you. You can't always just opt out of dealing with people without consequence.
> We've homeschooled before, and it would be trivial to pull them (and a small portion of the district's funding with them) and do it again, and they know it.
You'd homeschool your kids because their teachers find it odd that you're wearing AirPods during a conversation? To each his own, I guess.
> Nurse? If they commit intentional malpractice, my attorney is ready to go.
In what world does subtly judging you for wearing AirPods during a conversation qualify as malpractice?
I have bad news for you. Everyone judges people for these sorts of fashion choices (though perhaps not that specific one). Though some will do so more harshly than others, of course, and some enlightened folks will manage never, or rarely, to manifest or act on these judgments. And you'll absolutely never convince me that you don't make the same kinds of snap judgments about people based on things like what they're wearing.
It's healthy not to care too much about the fashion judgments of others, as you're suggesting. Is I agree with your first line. But you're otherwise bringing too black-and-white an approach to what is, in my view, an unavoidable part of social life.
Edit:
> Disregard, I forgot that HN has been infested with normies with poor reading comprehension.
OK. You object strenuously to anyone making any sort of judgment about a person wearing AirPods, all of whom should be completely cut out of your life, but are happy to throw out baseless insults at people who disagree with you in the mildest of terms on the internet. Got it.
But now that Apple entered the market, maybe they will come out with wireless headphones that are more suitable?