The Cult of the Airpods Ma

Graphic by Sophie Sternkopf

Technology trends come and go faster than even nowadays. Last year, that was especially true for headphones. The days of nearly invisible, wireless Airpods are long gone, and have been replaced with huge, chunky, and colorful headphones. Airpods Max’s have fully surged into their main character era. 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, it is well known that everyone and their mom has the Airpods Max. Despite their unflattering design and not so convenient size, these headphones have a huge it’ll-grow-on-you appeal which has allowed them to become the new it-girl accessory. 

Now let’s address the elephant in the room. As popular as they are, Airpods Maxs come with an extremely hefty price tag. Spending insane amounts of money on trends is not new at all, but these easily recognizable headphones scream “i’m expensive” like no other headphone or earbud has before.

Not only are these headphones a sign of the current popularity of retro aesthetics, but also signal to a rising trend of being overt and flashy with wealth. Flaunting socioeconomic status is really the new trend. Not to be dramatic, but this means even more overconsumption of microtrends is going to become the new norm. Big yikes.