Do We Even Go Out Without Our Earphones Anymore?

For those who take a metro to commute to work daily know we've got two inches of breath space and someone's armpit dangerously close to our face. In a stressful space like that, the only solace one's got is Sade cooing Smooth Operator straight into our skull through a 4mm silicone bud.

Now take that away. No ANC, No wireless miracles that dance to your tunes with every tap. Not even those tangled wired earphones. Do you think you can survive long hours on your own outside without your earphones to your rescue anymore? Would it sound alien to hear the world again, continuously without the escape of mechanically produced sounds? And when was the last time you did it- soaking in all the sounds around you?

In 2025, where every man from Bandra to Berlin has a personal soundtrack playing like a curated life-score, imagining a world without earphones feels not retro, but dystopian. Earphones can no longer be singled out as gadgets that help us enjoy audio. They break that boundary to ironically become one. and at a price.

They are social buffers. Emotional scaffolds. Identity signifiers. In their absence, we all just exposed skin. So, what’s the price of silence? About ₹27,990 if you’re shopping for the new AirPods Pro 2. But in a world where such salvation doesn’t exist, you're condemned to listen- maybe to an incessantly wailing baby next door or on a flight, people quarreling at public places, honking on the roads or just cooing of birds. Or some random guy on speakerphone yelling, “Bro, close the deal na yaar, I’ve been waiting since morning!”

Without earphones, public transport would be less like a communal vessel and more like an emotional landfill. Joggers would no longer have Kid Cudi pushing them up the hill. They’d just hear their own breath, which is, let’s admit, deeply uninspiring.

Office workspaces? Acoustic warzones. Coworkers on Zoom calls, fingers clacking on keys, the occasional dramatic sigh. And no escape pod in sight.

Let’s not pretend otherwise. For the urban Indian man, earphones are more than tools—they’re cloaks of invisibility. You’re not antisocial; you’re listening to a podcast. You’re not ignoring your ex at the cafe—you’re just very into the Joe Rogan Experience.

Without that auditory camouflage, men would be available. Present. Forced to participate. On commutes. In queues. In lifts.

Imagine the horror of hearing your own thoughts without Kendrick or Khruangbin to keep them company.

Imagine walking to work with just—wind.

There’d Be More Conversations (Not Always a Good Thing)

Sure, romanticists would argue that sans earphones, we’d all connect more. That a lack of isolation might birth more serendipitous run-ins.

The girl on the bus would actually talk to you. You might overhear something juicy enough to inspire a novel. Maybe you’d even start humming the same tune as a stranger on the metro and fall in love over a shared hum.

But let’s be honest. You’d probably just hear more people complain about the WiFi.

What We’d Gain (Besides Tinnitus) would be true connection with the world around us. Really being present in the moment. You’d notice things, the rustle of leaves, that one parakeet that sits on the cable outside your window every afternoon. Your own breath. The sound of your shoes on pavement. Life might be unbearably intimate. Vulnerable, even. But maybe, just maybe, also a little more awake.

But here's a better question for you; not “what would we do without earphones?” but are we already forgetting how to hear the world unfiltered? So next time you pop those AirPods in and descend into another Spotify abyss, ask yourself—What did I just silence? And was it worth it?