I (34NB) have a pair of waterproof wireless earphones (NW-WS413s, I think) that I use when at the gym or in the swimming pool. Normally they have two sets of earbuds to fit over the speaker bits, one with a mesh for the pool and one without for out-of-water use; but a few months ago the buttons on the left earpiece stopped working, which encompasses the volume buttons, and the mesh buds muffle the sound enough that wearing them in the pool is untenable.
To clarify, in all other respects the earphones work fine. I can still play, pause, skip, rewind, all that jazz. I just can’t adjust volume or turn off the noise cancelling.
Mum (59F) has a spare pair she’s not used for a year, and is adamant that I should switch from the ones I have to those. It’s been an infrequent point of contention since the volume buttons first stopped registering. From her perspective, it’s silly to not use fully working ones when they’ve been just sitting there. From mine, it’s silly to _stop_ using _partially_ working ones when they’ve not fully broken yet. The volume issue is inconvenient, for sure, but it’s not a dealbreaker; and cus I can’t use the filtery earbuds they’ll probably break for real in a short while anyway, and the fully working ones will still be there by then, one assumes!
But I _am_ notoriously stubborn when it comes to using old tech til it dies (one time I kept a laptop with a broken hinge going until the battery completely detached, like real hardwaregore shit), so maybe minds with a less hardline-ish outlook will be able to give me a different perspective on this. So AITA for not switching to the spare buds while the old ones still have some juice?
NAH
But you are being stupid to yourself.
You could be using a fully working set and keep your old ones as backup but you’d prefer an annoying pair that doesn’t work correctly and to have a fully working pair sit gather dust.
It’s common sense to use the good ones….but you do you
Edit for typo
Who cares?
i’d use the new ones. if buttons aren’t working it could point to potential electrical issues and those live in your ear. don’t put yourself in an unsafe situation in the name of being stubborn. you can always keep them on hand for spare use, or even decide what parts you could keep from them. maybe the charging case, earbuds covers, and then discard the rest.
NAH, but whyyyy? Something is broken when it no longer functions properly and causes inconvenience. Mom is offering a nice thing and it seems you just want a hill to die on. 🤦♀️
NAH and you are being stubborn, but you do you
NTA but definitely a weird situation. Why would you have the need to be incessant over broken earbuds? No one says that you have to throw them away, put them in a drawer for emergency use. Why wouldn’t you use something that isn’t broken, isn’t costing you any money and would make your earbud experience better? You’re spiting yourself by not using them. And to argue with your mum who’s only trying to help you, is ridiculous
I’m also of the “use things till they fall apart” persuasion, but that is generally to avoid buying new ones while the old ones can still be used, both for budget reasons and because of sustainability and not wanting to contribute to tech having such short lifecycles. But in this case, with a new pair already sitting there, without requiring any additional consumerism on my side, I would probably consider it more of a waste to not use them than to not keep using the old ones.
I wouldn’t throw away the old ones to switch to the new ones, but would “demote” the old ones to “spare” for in case the new ones break or get lost/stolen/whatever, or for if at some time Mom does need the new ones again.
>and the fully working ones will still be there by then, one assumes!
If neither you nor your mother is using them, keep in mind to charge them now and again, else that assumption might be wrong if the batteries get damaged permanently due to deep discharge…