As a moderator of this forum it’s my duty to read threads, even if I’m not interested in the subject matter, and keep things in topic. The subject of this particular thread is “Do AirPods make you look stupid?”, and has nothing to do with how many people are or aren’t wearing them on whatever trains you’re riding.
I disagree. Firstly, it's hard to judge whether a product makes the user look stupid without seeing people wearing it. Secondly, it was claimed by various people up the thread that vast numbers of people now use wireless headphones *specifically in places that I visit*, and that simply doesn't match my experience - which BTW includes using public transport in three continents in the last six months.
My experience travelling last week was interesting. I visited a couple of major, rich western European cities and used intercity and local public transport. I gave up counting headphone users in general. A small percentage use wireless headphones, I guess the 10% figure I counted last weekend is in the right order of magnitude. With two exceptions, these are all the large over-ear-with-headband style. However, I did see two people using in-ear airpod style headphones.
One set were black - it's possible they were actually a hearing aid as they were that kind of shape, but I don't think so.
And one set were airpods! The first I have seen in the wild. Actually I was a little bit suspicious of them. Apple's white plastic is quite distinctive - it looks shiny and gives the impression of being high quality. These had a rather cheap look about them, so maybe they were knock offs. The user was a middle age white guy, though, so I'm guessing they were genuine.
To be very strictly on topic - I thought the probable airpods made the user look a bit silly. "Stupid" might be overdoing it.
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