People who follow me on Twitter may recall that I sent my AirPods Pro through the wash last month:
Sent my Air Pods Pro through the washing machine. Relatedly, I ordered new ones yesterday.
— Scott McNulty (@blankbaby) March 27, 2020
I’ve had AirPods forever, but this was the first time I managed to destroy a pair with prolonged washing.
Good news: I did the same thing a couple of days ago… so now I have two pairs of broken AirPods Pro.
This got me to thinking about how I could have gone for so long not doing a thing and then suddenly doing that thing twice in a couple of weeks.
It all boils down to the power of routine. I only ever really used my AirPods in two circumstances:
- Sitting at my desk at work.
- Whilst running (either outside or on the treadmill).
When I used them at work I would just slip them into my bag at the end of the day. My bag doesn’t end up in the washing machine all that often, so there’s very little risk of destruction for my AirPods in that routine.
When I’m outside running I don’t usually bring the AirPod case, but traditionally I’ve run alone. So when I’m done with my run I just walk home with the AirPods in my ears. When I get home I pull them out, pop them into their case, and go about my life with functioning AirPods.
For use in the gym, I pop them into my ears before I head down the 15 floors to the gym, and then pop them out again when I’m back home (this allows me to pretend I can’t hear anyone who might want to talk to me in the elevator).
Enter COVID-19.
Now, I’m no longer going to the office (I haven’t been there in a month) so I don’t use my AirPods during the day.
And the gym in my building is closed, so I don’t use the treadmill anymore. Which means I have to run outside (even thought the air is full of death).
To make it even more different not only do I now only run outside, but since we are limiting the amounts of times we go outside we tend to all go out at the same time.
This means when I’m walking home I’m with Marisa and the boys. And I don’t want to be rude to Marisa, since she is still talking to me for the moment, so I pop the AirPods into my pocket of my sweaty shorts.
Sweaty shorts which end up in the washing machine. With my AirPods in the pocket.
And that’s how I ended up being the owner of two sets of very clean, and very broken, AirPods Pro.