When it comes to everyday objects, headphones are very important to me. I've become very attached to them, and the freedom they give me. I listen to hours of podcasts, music, and audiobooks, daily. And by hours, I mean at least 6 hours a day, in the weekdays. Whenever I am on my own, gardening, working, exercising, whatever, I am always listening to something.
My love affair with headphones has been going on for almost as long as I've been alive. I was given my first pair before my fifth birthday by my parents. I believe that they were told by medical professionals that listening to music and audiobooks (childrens stories) would help me with my learning and developmental issues caused by my congenital hearing loss.
This must have had some sort of positive effect because I eventually upgraded to a Sony Walkman. This was the moment that brought my magical world on the move with me. I've since had a MiniDisk Walkman, was introduced to podcasts and audible with the introduction of the iPod and iPhone, and I am now using a cheap £15 set of ear-buds to listen to Radiohead whilst writing this blog post on an iPad.
All of the devices listed above require batteries or re-charging. None of the headphones ever have. I have owned cheap headphones, and expensive ones, and I've never needed to charge them. They have all "just worked", getting their power from the device that they are plugged into.
I've also never had to charge a knife and fork, a pair of devices that I use less frequently than my headphones. That would be stupid.
This is why I'll never buy a phone/tablet without a built in heaphone jack. It would be uncomfortable to have a daft adapter (almost permanently) connected via a lightning port. If Apple do not reverse this trend then I will have to move away from their ecosystem once my current iPhone 6s becomes unusable.