It isn’t just the gym. When was the last time you went outside?

(The last paragraph is a summary of sorts if you don’t want to deal my wall of examples)

I like being able to sit on the metro or bus and use my phone normally, and then when I go to leave I don’t need to reorganize the wire to get it in a more comfortable position for walking around. When I drive, since the microphone in my car isn’t very good, I don’t need to think about dealing with a cable and putting my phone somewhere it can be safely and securely within reach. Being able to understand that other people have different needs I know that there is such a thing as a woman and they, unfortunately, don’t always have pockets that make dealing with a wire super straightforward.

In the summer I don’t want to have a wire down my t-shirt. It’s uncomfortable and I definitely want the thing hanging around loose, either.

When I’m at home it’s nice to not have to deal with wired headphones, and when I use my laptop for calls and stuff it’s so much easier to be able to use wireless earbuds. I can get up quickly to close a door, turn off an oven, frickin’ whatever the hell I want. Most of the time I use my PC, regular speakers, and Yeti Nano so this isn’t an issue but understanding that other people have different needs I can see why someone without those things would need a better solution.

I live where I rent bikes to get around a lot. I rarely want music while I’m biking but I’ve needed directions sometimes and having my phone plugged in while pedalling, even if the wire was long enough, would be a great way to shorten the life of the connection at the phone. Being able to understand other people have different needs I also know that others use headphones much more often, especially when we have safer bike infrastracture.

For you:

Understanding that different people have different needs I totally get why someone might want wired headphones. A little better sound quality if you’re into that kinda thing is fine. The cost is certainly a component and I won’t tell anyone who can’t afford Airpods that they need to spend that kind of money on headphones. I didn’t even do that as mine only cost $70 after my points took care of the other $310(these are AirPod Pro 2s, I also know that regular airpods are far cheaper but still pricey).

I also use wired headphones on my PC because Windows is ass and the firmware on the airpods as well will sometimes not behave either. I only use them because one specific meeting program doesn’t have anything to clean up the echo from my speakers so I need to cut that sound out entirely. Regardless, I understand how valuable a simple wired connection is. Sometimes my keyboard doesn’t behave without being plugged in, and whenever shitty Windows crapped out on my work computer and the bluetooth connection died I had to plug in to deal with that. I only use wired mice but frankly I really should get a wireless one as well to have that flexibility, though the cheapo wired one ready to go in a box nearby is fine.

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I never said wired headphones don’t have a place but you’re not getting that other people have different priorities.

It’s like saying we should all own GMC Savanas for the extra space when it would be better for 99.9% of people to grab a Honda fit or just take public transit, and then use U-Haul, a carshare program, or just borrow a friend’s car when they need to haul something once a year.

Ultimately, people just want to listen to music at all and in a comfortable way. The disadvantages of a wire are not worth the marginal increase in sound quality when it comes to daily use.

But your statement is now relying on skills and equipment that - sure, don’t have that high of a barrier to entry - aren’t within everyone’s skill level, or budget vs storage capacity.

For what it’s worth, I personally wouldn’t go back to wired headphones, but I also want a mic jack because I want to play music to non-Bluetooth stuff and cars I don’t own/don’t trust with my privacy.