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[Cthulhu]

This is an odd topic, but it just occurred to me, and I wondered if anyone else is like this.  When I'm on the computer, I always use headphones, no speakers.  Right now I'm not using headphones because mine are going out.  I almost feel naked.  Whenever I don't have headphones I feel like something's wrong, and I get the urge to put headphones on, even if I don't use them or they aren't plugged in.  It's weird.

Is anyone else like this?

[Torak]

I used to be like that, until I stopped caring what people might hear coming from my speakers.

[Kagus]

I use headphones a lot, and I've got some of the same strangeness.   It's become really weird, as I've started putting them on when there's no sound coming out.  I'll sit down at the computer to wander around the forums, and I'll put the headphones on.

At least I have another excuse for using them aside from privacy.  The sound is much clearer coming out of the headphones than my pathetic little museum-of-electronic-history speakers.

[Cthulhu]

When my current pair stopped working I put on another pair that turned out not to work, and wore it for like a half hour, despite the fact that it was broken.

Another question, why do headphones go out so fast?  Earbuds last like two months and "good" headphones don't last a year.

[Kagus]

Don't ask me, I've been using an old pair of fuckoff-huge headphones from the back of my dad's electronics closet for the last year.  They're working just fine.  Damn comfortable, too.

[Aqizzar]

I got like that for a while when I lived in a dorm and had to wear headphones.  I started just wearing them around.  Along with a hat, glasses, lots of facial hair, and a ponytail.  It was about when I started thinking about getting a piercing that I realized I had too many cranial accessories.

I still get a weird feeling of completeness when I'm wearing them in my car.  I have to use a music player since my car doesn't have a radio.  I only wear them at home when I'm using my other computer for music while playing a game, since laptop speakers suck.

It must be the curmudgeon in me, but for some indefinable reason I absolutely hate these 21st century ear-bud things.  And not just because they're not comfortable.

EDIT: My $15 headphones are over three years old, and still work.  Admittedly the sound is getting a bit washed, but to hear them in my car I have to crank the volume all the way up, and it drowns out any kind of vocal track.

[Cthulhu]

You wear headphones in your car?

Dangerous...

Also, most earbuds are uncomfortable, yes, but there's a certain kind that you can barely even feel on your ears, and it's wonderful, let me see if I can find a picture of them.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They're a true masterpiece of headphones, and they're like ten bucks.

[Kagus]

Sony?  Well no wonder your headphones don't last long, Sony is horrible when it comes to the longevity of their products.

Or the quality...   But that's a different matter.

[Sappho]

I hate headphones, never use them unless I absolutely have to (like at work).  When I do use them, I keep the volume very low - I hate that I can't hear what's going on around me, and I can't even tell how loud I'm breathing with outside sound blocked out.

I'm also the only person I know with sensitive hearing.  My sisters will be playing music so loud it hurts my ears in the next room, and I'll ask them to turn it down and they say, "But I can barely hear it as it is!"  The entire world seems to be going deaf thanks to headphones that get closer and closer to your eardrum with each evolution.  I hope you guys all enjoy your tinnitus for the rest of your lives starting in five years or so...

By the way, it's illegal in most places to wear headphones while driving, and for good reason: it's extremely dangerous.  (Why it's legal to wear those horrific hands-free phone things is beyond me.  I think all cell phone use in cars should be illegal everywhere.) 

[Specialist290]

I pretty much always wear headphones when listening to music (especially since most of my music is on CDs and I don't listen to the radio much), and I'll sometimes use 'em for the comp as well when I'm not trying to do something else, since the speakers are effectively crap. Thing is, I have to plug them directly into the back of the tower when I do use them for that, and the cord is just long enough for me to sit in front of the monitor without really letting me type comfortably. Therefore I tend to only use them when watching videos.

[Cthulhu]

Psh, tin is a metal, it can't get sick.

Seriously though, I've been toning down the volume of music lately, before I'd listen to it at levels I knew were bad.

Another weird sound-related thing.  Has anyone ever thought a question, and heard an audible answer?  Very very rarely, I'll think a question, and I'll physically hear someone say "No."  I only specifically remember it happening once, but I vaguely remember it happening another time or two.

[Jusal]

Very very rarely, I'll think a question, and I'll physically hear someone say "No."  I only specifically remember it happening once, but I vaguely remember it happening another time or two.

Damn, now where did I put my foil hat.

[McDoomhammer]

Sounds like a very specialised and disagreeable form of synaesthesia.

[Aqizzar]

I'm quite capable of driving with headphones on (if it's illegal in Texas, no cop's told me), and it's necessary to listen to music, because my car has no form of sound insulation of any kind.  Ergo I'm acutely aware of every wheel, engine, gust of wind, and bump in the road for a hundred feet in every direction.  In terms of creature comforts my car is basically a four wheeled motorcycle.

Another weird sound-related thing.  Has anyone ever thought a question, and heard an audible answer?  Very very rarely, I'll think a question, and I'll physically hear someone say "No."  I only specifically remember it happening once, but I vaguely remember it happening another time or two.

Did it happen while you were trying to sleep?  Or just really tired?  Because hearing snips of voice while nearly asleep is actually pretty common.

[Cthulhu]

Nope, I was fully awake, lying on my bed.

Another weird one was at school, I heard a jumble of voices and then static for a few seconds.