Sometimes things just fall into place: just a few weeks ago I heard a documentary on the BBC World Service about the ubiquity of earbuds, those little in-ear headphones; read an article bewailing the abandonment of headphones on public transport in favour of playing music via phone speakers; and had cause to ‘distress purchase’ a pair of earbuds to keep the marital peace. To say I found myself immersed in the whole world of in-ear headphones – not usually my chosen means of music playback – is something of an understatement.

True, there are still those who prowl the streets wearing full-size over-ear headphones, in itself something of a fashion statement, but it’s hard not to agree with the presenter of that radio documentary, Per Sennström, one of the creators of Swedish company Earin, and a wireless earbuds pioneer – look around and just about everyone seems to have their ears plugged.

Those Apple AirPods seem to be the choice for those being interviewed on the TV via Zoom or whatever, there’s no shortage of copy products out there, not to mention endless ‘lifestyle’ editions from the hi-fi manufacturers, and a whole generation of parents has learned that the problems of communication with their teenagers isn’t simply that they’re being ignored, but rather that the earphones are in, and thus the adults can’t be heard anyway.

Parents complain that this isolationist trend is growing: flatmates don’t talk to each other; people travel from place to place with their eyes focused on a little screen and their ears filled with music, not the sounds around them; and the stepson I have recently acquired is often known to growl, ‘has anyone seen my AirPods?’ with a note of desperation in his voice. He has them in awake, asleep, in the gym, while running, driving, even at the dinner table. That old line about ‘he’s in his own little world’ has never been more accurate.

That recent stepson-acquisition also informed my latest audio acquisition: his mother, now my wife – yes, the wedding was lovely, thank you – is one of those infuriating people who sleeps as soon as her head hits the pillow, while I prefer to drift away listening to the news and wake up the same way. So, when my last pair of earbuds gave up the ghost, a replacement was needed fast, and as this was more of a distress purchase than a considered one, I wasn’t planning on spending very much. However, how little I had to find really surprised me: a pair of Bluetooth earbuds with extended battery life, noise cancellation and a little charger case to keep them topped up set me back the princely sum of £13.99.

Are they brilliant? Well, they’re more than good enough for my needs, and thus definitely a brilliant bargain. And while I have a secret hankering for a pair of the new Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 McLaren Edition, developed with the F1 and supercar company and finished in ‘Galvanic Grey and Papaya orange’, I can’t help feeling I’d fear losing a tiny pair of £449 earbuds, so my ‘distress buds’ will do for now.

But while us old fogeys may bewail the earbud generation shutting itself from the world, at least one newspaper columnist is getting hot under the collar about those who eschew headphones. Writing for The Guardian, Adrian Chiles recalled being on a bus, ‘the No 70 in Ladbroke Grove. It was an afternoon as gentle and warm as you’re ever going to get in west London. But the noise was quite incredible, all of it generated by just one young woman with some very angry sounding music fighting its way out of her phone.

‘I was fascinated by this absurd performance. What’s it all about? Try as I might to find a charitable explanation, the only one I could come up with is that it was a giant two-fingered gesture to the whole world, wordlessly posing the question: “I know this is out of order, but what are you going to do to stop me?”’

So, which is more anti-social? Shutting out the world with earbuds, or blasting the bus? I guess that’s another one for the First World Problems list …