Look around the halls between classes at Tenafly High School, and you’ll find a similarity in shocking numbers nestled in the ears of our students: AirPods. Apple’s signature wireless earbuds, which consist of nothing more than two little white earpieces in a smooth plastic case, have taken the school by storm. In the last few weeks, it’s hard to walk from class to class without seeing a handful of students sporting these tiny headphones. But why are they so popular among THS students? What makes AirPods so vastly superior to traditional earbuds?

Apple’s website boasts impressive statistics about the earbuds. At just 0.14 ounces each, the AirPods yield five hours of listening time or two hours of talk time from a single charge. Music automatically plays as you put the headphones in your ears and automatically pauses as you take them out. A quick double-tap while AirPods are in your ears quickly summons Siri. They even come with a carrying and charging case the size of a Tic Tac box. It’s no wonder the students of THS have jumped on this bandwagon so quickly.

But there are also downsides to this alternative to standard earbuds. For one, their small size and meager weight allow the AirPods to easily get lost. “I’ve lost them at least five times, so it’s really hard to keep track of them,” said Sophia Dongaris (’20).

The price tag isn’t pretty, either: straight from Apple’s site, they retail for a whopping $159.00. Are AirPods worth this hefty splurge? When I investigated the halls of THS to find answers about these evasive buds, convenience and simplicity came up again and again. “I think they’re just convenient,” Ismail Khassa (’20) said. “As soon as you pop them in your ear, they connect to your phone.”

THS students seem to be in agreement about the bright future of the AirPods. “I think eventually they’ll replace normal headphones because a lot of different brands have been making headphones like these, without the wire,” Dongaris said.

Ultimately, what role do AirPods play in the progression of technology? By slowly eradicating any and all wires, we’re becoming startlingly close with our technology—we’re past the realm of being even “connected.” We’re becoming carriers for our own devices; they’re becoming part of us. That being said, we don’t know the future of the AirPods. Only time will tell if wire headphones stick around or if the headphone industry is just another technological sector for Apple to swallow whole.