Unexpected Delirium

Unexpected Delirium

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Unexpected Delirium
Unexpected Delirium
On the enshittification of everything

On the enshittification of everything

How do you get from needing a different cable to plug your headphones to prophesising the end of the world? Let's find out!

Ian King's avatar
Ian King
Jan 28, 2025
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Unexpected Delirium
Unexpected Delirium
On the enshittification of everything
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It started, as these things so often seem to do with me, with the need to buy a new cable. My ears are shot through with tinnitus, a sound that I’ve never truly been able to articulate other than to say that it’s the highest-pitched noise that I’ll ever hear again and that I feel somewhat defrauded by the fact that this condition renders this a constant presence in my life while I know that plenty of others my age literally cannot hear any higher-pitched sounds any more.

And as a music lover, this means that I cannot be doing with Bluetooth earphones. Actually, since my goddam ears get so hairy and are essentially the wrong shape on the inside nevertheless, I can’t be doing with earphones, let alone earphones that connect wirelessly yet temperamentally and provide a noticeably worse listening experience. I need over the ear headphones and I need a bloody cable.

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