The hi-tech accessory of the year? For the kids of the so-called Generation Z, that is i born between the mid-nineties and 2010, there is only one: a nice pair of corded earphones for a few euros.
Tiktoker and influencer such as the French-American actress and model Lily Rose Depp, born in 1999, daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, or the twins Mary-Kate ed Ashley Fuller Olsen (which are actually Millennials, because they were born in 1986) have long begun to show themselves in videos or to be immortalized with the timeless EarPods (which are no longer included in the iPhone packages since last year) or similar earphones.
Social e business
TikTok surpasses one billion active users per month, and now focuses on online shopping
by Emanuele Capone
The matter had taken off some time before and is much more complex than a pair of headphones: it has its roots in the choices of a part of the younger generations who, according to Rory Satran in the Wall Street Journal, they see AirPods and all other types of expensive wireless headphones with advanced features such as active noise cancellation or ambient sound, as being too tied to the financial world, fiercely hi-tech, hyper-technological and ultimately ambitious to the point of pure achievement. Not so much boomer stuff, but stuff from different worlds than theirs. In addition to accessories that do not integrate into outfits and above all do not allow an intrinsic message to be transmitted with the necessary clarity that, on the other hand, wired headphones go great: I’m listening to something, I’m busy, I can’t hear you. Do not disturb me.
Also according to Satran, wired headphones are the favorite accessory for tiktokers to record their short videos. More practical and economical, they go beyond functionality and represent an aesthetic choice, almost a sort of nostalgic short-circuit of the 10s of the new millennium which, on the other hand, manifested itself in the Y2K fashion that recovers the taste of the late nineties-early 2000s: the adolescence of today’s Millennials, of which Gen Z re-appropriates through clothes and accessories, as always by reworking some meanings and integrating some news. And replicating that approach also on entertainment or, as we can see, on technology: Sara Fischer on Axios defined it as “the economy of the past” featuring flashy clothing, sentimental entertainment and old-school technology. Or in any case not necessarily engaged in a frantic race for the latest news. In parallel, moreover, with other fashions such as Old Money, with the reworking of classic garments, or the Vsco approach (from the name of the app), clean and essential.
The phenomenon
NFTs are not (only) a fad: nearly $ 27 billion in sales in 2021
by Marco Cimminella
There are even accounts on Instagram celebrating those who wear the headphones of yesteryear, such as @wireditgirls founded by 24-year-old Shelby Hull, who to Mashable he explained how being wired is an attitude and a way of moving around the world that collects shots of celebrities caught in their days talking or listening to music with EarPods and the like. Two years ago, Liana Satenstein wrote an article for Vogue about Bella Hadid, American supermodel born in 1996, and how he had brought back the inconvenient (but evidently not for everyone) device, swept away starting from 2016 by the first models of AirPods and by all the clones and epigones that followed them in the following five years.
By effectively transforming the headphones, at a speed probably never seen before for any other gadget, into a sort of fast vintage accessory (as also witnessed by a viral video released last October by TikTok account @thedigifairy) which, as such, is today recovered and preferred by teenagers and young adults. Between opposition, fashion and social trends.
.