Goods may be too good

There’s an internet refrain common when bad behaviour triumphs: this is why we can’t have nice things. I generally sympathise, but aside from trying to buy longer-lasting goods and mending when I can, I have not paid much attention to whether some things are, maybe, too nice.

Phil Gyford, having just bought himself wireless earbuds, thinks there may be a problem.

But part of me still thinks devices like these are too good. Like, unnecessarily good. So good that we don’t deserve them. That people will look back from an Earth that’s 50% flooded and 50% burning, and point to the time when everyone decided that battery-powered, wireless, easily losable and breakable, earphones were essential as the time when we tipped the world over from “maybe, just maybe, we can make it?” to “nah, maybe let’s not bother?”

Confession: A few months back my good bluetooth earbuds gave up the ghost, so I bought a cheapie pair. They were so bad, I was overjoyed when I lost them. In my defence, I have not replaced them, because my hearing aids (equally wasteful, probably) do a reasonable job. Not great, but good enough for most podcasts and better than walking around rocking an over-the-ear headset.