Why don’t people use headphones anymore?
Posted by retro-vibes@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 93 comments
And how to deal with it? I’m on a train home and some annoying twat is having a loud phone conservation with the other person on speaker phone. I have also been around people listening to music out loud, so everyone around has to share in their wonderful BARRAGE of (usually crap) music.
To stop me going mad- anyone got any funny ideas about how to confront this particular type of monster?
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MaximumGibbous@reddit
On the train? Go and dance uncomfortably close to them, ask if they're doing requests.
RevolutionaryPace167@reddit
Tweak in their faces like a strippergram
SWTransGirl@reddit
Like you’ve had too much coffee?
Or tweak like you need another hit of crack?
RevolutionaryPace167@reddit
Either or both
CouchAlchemist@reddit
I agree with your sentiment on this but majority of the people do use headphones. It's the minority that act as twats. Even worse is speaker call in a pub .. it's always a specific age group though so I just assume their behaviour as misunderstood coolness.
rainbow84uk@reddit
There's always been a minority of teenage twats playing music on their phones in public, yes, but recently it's become way more common for seemingly normal adults to not use headphones.
My own parents (in their 70s) used to think even silently scrolling on your phone in front of people was rude, but they've suddenly started answering FaceTime calls and watching loud Facebook reels whenever they feel like it. It's bizarre.
flohara@reddit
Companies did away with the hole on the phone.
And people became selfish during covid.
Cool_Stock_9731@reddit
USB-C adapters for earphone Jack's aren't expensive or hard to find, can literally get one for a few quid on Amazon
Gauntlets28@reddit
It's still an additional hurdle that didn't need to be there.
Cool_Stock_9731@reddit
I 100% agree with that
It's just that I don't agree with the idea of someone using it as an excuse to blast music out loud
niallniallniall@reddit
Apple dropped the jack 8 years ago. Flagship Samsung's about 5. Most earphones and headphones now come in USB-C. I think it's more of the latter.
r2dtsuga@reddit
I genuinely wonder if people who have loud phone conversations don't realise that it's annoying. Or they just don't care.
RichardsonM24@reddit
People don’t give a shit and it’s awful.
I was recently in hospital for a few nights before and after my fiancee gave birth to our son and the amount of people talking on speaker was ridiculous.
Even on the postnatal ward where there were 5 other bays on the ward, each with newborn babies in and just a thin curtain separating them. People were on the phone at all hours, Tik toks blaring etc.
Kitchen_Owl_8518@reddit
That is wild.
I was at the hospital a month or so ago and my partner rang me to see if I was ready to be collected, and I was too embarrassed to talk to her in a silent waiting room so I hung up and text her.
Sufficient_Meal6614@reddit
Fucking hell that is dystopian
RichardsonM24@reddit
It was hell on earth honestly. Thankfully it was only 1 night whilst my fiancee recovered and we got to leave.
We had the smallest bay at the end of the ward and the ignorant cunts next door kept having loads of loud visitors who were banging into the curtain and knocking the cot my son was sleeping in. I spoke to them twice about it and the third time I waited until their next round of visitors arrived and told them myself on their way in because the thick bastards just kept letting it happen.
Id been in hospital 4 nights “sleeping” on the hard floor at this point too. Hell
RevolutionaryPace167@reddit
It's shit. But congratulations, Daddy
Immorals1@reddit
Noise cancelling headphones and a judgemental tut
Academic-Bug-4597@reddit
Ear plugs are more effective at blocking sound, assuming you aren't listening to music.
If you are listening to music, a decent closed back headphone is better than noise-cancelling, which is a gimmick and works poorly with speech.
Phoenix_Kerman@reddit
not sure why this is getting downvoted. passive noise cancelling has existed for years and is much less bother than the faff that goes with active noise cancelling
RevolutionaryPace167@reddit
Nor me, I just updated him
Kyla_3049@reddit
Only problem is that only high frequencies get blocked out effectively. The mid range is still there quite a bit, and this is where voices are. Good ANC will reduce the mid range to a similar level as the higher frequencies.
Cheap headphones typically have barely effective ANC though, although Soundcore ones are quite good.
Choice_Jeweler@reddit
Just sit next to them and start playing your own shitty music. They'll figure out pretty quickly how annoying it is.
UmaUmaNeigh@reddit
My theory is that since wireless ones need charging, and that's a ball ache, people have stopped using them.
I still use wired ones, but many new gadgets no longer have a headphone jack.
VanderCarter@reddit
The worst is when they put it on speaker and then talk to it holding it to their mouth, makes me want to punch them.
AnnaN666@reddit
Omg why do they do this now?? It's fucking stupid.
Captain_Kruch@reddit
Yes. I've seen it happen quite frequently. No wonder phone thefts are on the increase.
sputnikmonolith@reddit
It's how people on TV use phones.
Low-Cauliflower-5686@reddit
I heard people do this because it feels more like an actual conversation . Mostly people from either south Asia or South America I notice who do it
original_oli@reddit
Because being a berk is increasingly common.
___TheAmbassador@reddit
Upvote for the word "berk"
90210fred@reddit
Rhyming slang, init.
blissnabob@reddit
Indeed it is! Berkshire Hunt. Such an innocent word, berk, but with quite a powerful meaning.
AbjectGovernment1247@reddit
I haven't heard that word for ages.
Real_Science_5851@reddit
Then go watch the How to Train Your Dragon trailer haha
funkyg73@reddit
Feed me Berk.
GlitchingGecko@reddit
Because Apple took away the headphone jack and then tried to charge people £200 for earbuds.
MickRolley@reddit
Apple could take away the charging port and people would just buy a new iPhone every day.
Valuable-Wallaby-167@reddit
Yeah, people still need to take some responsibility because it's not like listening to music loudly without headphones on public transport is their only option in life but it's definitely when it suddenly became the norm.
GlitchingGecko@reddit
Half the population is suffering from Main Character Syndrome (or Selfish Asshole Syndrome) and has zero cognition of anything affecting anyone but themselves.
Rythorian@reddit
You can buy Bluetooth earbuds for like £20 though
Omnissiah40K@reddit
You can also just put the phone to your ear and talk into the phone like people have done for over 100 years 🤷♂️
GlitchingGecko@reddit
And you can get a non-iphone that does the same things for half the price, and yet people still buy them. 🤷🏻♂️
Pi-creature@reddit
It makes me mad too. Honestly, I think we all need to speak up. I'm on a one woman mission to point it out and get some blood manners back. (I probably sound like a Karen).
banjo_fandango@reddit
I hate the whole 'Karen' thing. It's just a method to shut up (middle aged) women.
Don't let fear of being a 'Karen' silence you.
BrieflyVerbose@reddit
It's not, it's a fairly accurate stereotype. I understand this is a personal anecdote but it happens so often for me I feel like this might be the same for many (cue everyone saying otherwise!). Whenever people at work complain the vast majority of the time it's women of that age. Also they can be quite particularly rude and nasty compared to others in a similar situation.
Also the bar for complaining seems significantly lower for women that age compared to literally everyone else I have dealt with in the public.
banjo_fandango@reddit
Are you a middle-aged woman?
BrieflyVerbose@reddit
Are you chatting me up?
BrieflyVerbose@reddit
It's not, it's a fairly accurate stereotype. I understand this is a personal anecdote but it happens so often for me I feel like this might be the same for many (cue everyone saying otherwise!). Whenever people at work complain the vast majority of the time it's women of that age. Also they can be quite particularly rude and nasty compared to others in a similar situation.
Also the bar for complaining seems significantly lower for women that age compared to literally everyone else I have dealt with in the public.
QueSeRawrSeRawr@reddit
I was called a Karen the other day for leaving a train carriage someone was smoking weed in, didn't even say a word to them!
banjo_fandango@reddit
Are you a middle-aged woman?
makemycockcry@reddit
If its OK for them its OK for you. Baby Shark on repeat until they get the idea.
BrieflyVerbose@reddit
I like this idea. I fucking love some death metal and some deathcore. Maybe they would enjoy a bit of Decapitated or maybe a little bit of Infant Annihilator at full volume?
shadereckless@reddit
I like Making Bacon by DJ Cotts
Key_Effective_9664@reddit
Because they got rid of the headphone socket
Inturnelliptical@reddit
I see lots of people everyday with headphones.
Emotional_Ad_4911@reddit
Because people are selfish and think the world revolves around just them
hhfugrr3@reddit
This isn't new. When I was a kid and battery powered stereos appeared you'd see the occasional dickhead walk up the street with music playing. Then when phones could first play music every bus was filled with the sound of shit tinny music being blasted out as loud as the phone could manage.
autobulb@reddit
This is the answer for everything super fucking annoying that people do "these days." It isn't new, it's just that everything has been made accessible to everyone and so all the assholes that wouldn't have been able to do that 30 years ago can do it now.
Your stereo example is the perfect comparison to loudspeakers on smartphones. Before you had to buy a fairly expensive boombox, and then actually carry the heavy thing with you onto public transport to play it. Now, anyone can do the equivalent because everyone has phones with loudspeakers that they will always carry around with them anyway.
Why does everything get filmed? Why can't you enjoy a concert without 1000 people filming a crappy copy of it? Cause everyone has a camera in their pocket now.
Why are conspiracy theories and misinformation spreading like wildfire? Cause even the dumbest, most ignorant fuckhead can get access to the internet with a cheap device and post nonstop bullshit.
arfur_narmful@reddit
If I'm near someone on loud speaker, I join in. I usually get told to F off, but they either walk off or go off loud speaker #win
killit@reddit
I like this one. You open your conversation up to me and I'll actively participate, only seems polite.
S4h1l_4l1@reddit
I was once at the hospital at night due to a fractured collar bone, a woman and her son across the waiting room were yelling at the top of their voices with someone on the phone who was giving her bank details to them 😂
absent42@reddit
Holding the phone up and talking into it on speakerphone is shown a lot on reality TV, but for a reason – the TV producers want the audience to hear both sides of the conversation and holding the phone to your face makes it more difficult to film facial reactions.
Impressionable people copy this method of talking on the phone maybe because they think it's the trendy thing to do and don't realise it's done on TV for a specific reason. So sadly it's been normalised by reality stars and now people see it as an acceptable method to talk on the phone in public.
RaspberryNo101@reddit
I find this utterly bizarre when people hold their phone at arm's length and shout at it.
loveyouronions@reddit
Lately I’ve been fantasising about writing some sort of snarky ‘so sorry you can’t afford headphones’ business card with some cheap headphones attached and handing them out to these pricks.
deafearuk@reddit
Go old school, tell them to knock it off, if they don't do it for them.
JohnnyRyallsDentist@reddit
Call a friend, put them on loudspeaker.. Then put your phone near the offenders phone and invite your friend to join in the conversation.
Bertybassett99@reddit
I wonder if their is a correlation between those who cannot afford earphkne since manufacturers stopped gvikng them away with a new phone and started making an extra...
CaptainHindsight92@reddit
I have recently purchased wireless headphones and they are a nightmare for phone calls, the mic doesn't pick up my voice and if I turn them off and press the phone to my ear they turn back on. I have been tempted to use loud speaker but instead I have to turn my Bluetooth off during the call which is a massive pain. I have seen similar fake airpods on a lot of young people, maybe these are common issues and it's not just me being a total goober?
Kcufasu@reddit
Well this has to be the most exaggerated question ever on this sub...
"People" do wear headphones, you just experienced the 1 in a thousand that isn't and is instead being an annoying cunt. Not that that is anything new, plenty of arseholes doing the exact same 20 years back blasting unwanted music in public
Crafty-Warthog-1493@reddit
I'm going to hazard a guess that you either don't go out to public space much and/or don't use public transport.
lilbunnygal@reddit
Plot twist they're the 1in a thousand
DavidC_is_me@reddit
It's a bit more than "1 in a thousand'.
Opus-the-Penguin@reddit
This is my fantasy:
https://youtu.be/Zf5iwGZNY_Q?si=g8Rd23kqW9OKJ0AF
thesimpsonsthemetune@reddit
Use headphones yourself, and other people's noises are no longer your issue.
Previous_Kale_4508@reddit
I have headphones to put on with nothing for when there are too many people without them. Noise cancelling is a wonderful system.
Cool_Stock_9731@reddit
This is in no way a new thing, there's been the occasional person that does this for a very long time, it's unfortunate and annoying but is in no way anything new
AppropriateDevice84@reddit
Start playing your own music right next to them. Then if they say anything mention something to the tune of “I thought it was national anti-headphones day. You seemed to be enjoying the festivities so I decided to join in!”
peppersunlightbutter@reddit
stabs you
pumaofshadow@reddit
T shirt launcher with earphone sets in it...
(Let me dream ok? I work somewhere I end up with competing phones on speaker in the waiting room , then get it on the bus on the way home too.)
kaipee@reddit
Join in on the conversation. They're including you in it so why not participate
Theodin_King@reddit
Literally have headphones in now
Beanruz@reddit
Talking on loud speaker or listening to music publicly like tjay should be punishable by kerb stomping.
mad-un@reddit
Go over with your phone on loud speaker and start answering the person on his phone, then act confused when you're confronted
Soggy_Detective_4737@reddit
Try singing along, badly, to the music listeners.
Join in the conversation with the talkers. Make sure to really lean in to the phone, and maybe state that the person holding the phone is your favourite choice of slang words.
cougieuk@reddit
Either join in the conversation or use noise cancelling headphones.
The-all-seeing-pie@reddit
Take a book, sit next to / near as possible to them, read out loud at the top of your voice until they get the hint.
OG_Flicky@reddit
For the people on the phone to someone else, listen in and shout out a few bizarre ideas and join in with the conversation 🤣
Boombang106@reddit
Wear headphones, works for me.
Additional-Guard-211@reddit
Noise cancelling headphones, I have Air Pods Pro 2 and love them. Blocks out most of peoples noises.
Wooden_Scallion_6699@reddit
Grab the phone and drop kick it as far as possible
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