Headphones Rant, aka I Can’t Stand Earbuds

When I was little-er (like 10 or so), I got a Walkman Portable CD player, either as a gift for Christmas or just as something my parents got me, and I got these really, super comfortable headphones to go with it (not really). I actually still have that Walkman, in the little nook area under my nightstand drawer at home, along with my embarrassingly small CD collection.

When I first got that thing, I was in heaven. My mom often played me her CDs in the car, and we had a decent if not nice stereo system (for the time), along with a turntable for her to play her records. I guess I was 12 or so when I was allowed to use the stereo, and I still remember how, when I opened the cabinet in our entertainment center that held all her CDs, my mind was blown with how many she had. Now that I’m older and taller, the collection doesn’t look as big, but it still makes me smile how those were the CDs she listened to when she was in high school.

In short, my mom loved music, and thus, so do I. There is a deep tradition of car singing and dancing between the two of us, and even though my mom tries to tell me that she’s my mom and not my friend, I know that when it comes to music, she’s happy we both love it the same way, even if our taste in artists now differ.

But back to the Walkman. As someone who grew up with music, and my mom fostering that love by buying me my own CDs (early additions to the collection? Hilary Duff’s CD and the Jonas Brothers’ second ((and best)) album). One clear memory I have with that Walkman was the time my aunt pulled me and my cousin away from Houston and the impending Hurricane Rita, taking us to “safety” (and A/C) in College Station in the middle of the night with everyone else trying to get the heck out of town. What is normally an hour and half, maybe two hour drive quickly turned into a 4 hour trek, and so all I had to lull me to sleep was my trusty Walkman. What makes this memory so vivid, however, is not the long ride or even the music I was listening to, but the headphones.

I absolutely hated those headphones. They drove me insane, especially since they were the kind with the fake cushy things that slide over the hard plastic, and one had fallen off and I had lost it. After my experience with those headphones, and the introduction of the earbud, all the rage and of course all my friends had a pair, I told myself I’d swear off over the ear headphones for good, and besides, they weren’t cool anymore anyways.

So, headphones. All this now leads me to the most random (and ironic) thing ever, which is that I love over the ear headphones now. Frankly, the topic of headphones has been on my mind recently because mine broke right before thanksgiving, and while I now have replacements, they are the dreaded earbuds. What I loved in my childhood has now become what I hate.

And what’s strangest is the fact that there’s a part of me that really really needs over the ear headphones. Like, my inner soul is yearning for it. Which is how this relates to arts, because, well, headphones and music, but also because I’ve never really recognized how crucial my headphones were to my creative process.

I’ve always liked listening to music while I write (case and point: I’m currently listening to “I Got A Boy” by Girl’s Generation), and I’ve always known that music has been a big inspiration for me. My last short story was named after a Phoenix song, and I have not one, not two, but three playlists on Spotify called “writing” (I, II, and III respectively).

But now, even though I have in ears, I feel like I’m missing something, like I’m open and exposed to the world without my over the ear headphones. It’s the strangest feeling, but yet so telling about me and what I value.

Plus, my ear isn’t properly shaped for in ears and it’s annoying as heck to push them back in when it’s 20 degrees outside and I’m walking to class.

So I guess my point is don’t disrespect headphones. I mean really, they’re invaluable, if you love music as much as I do.

Oh, and if you’re curious, I’m saving up money to buy nice headphones instead of the cheap ones I usually get, like Bose or Beats or something. If you have any suggestions, let me know in the comments.