The Headphone Phenomenon

There is an interesting phenonomenon in middle schools across the country. It is that of wearing headphones walking into and out of the building each day. If you don't have headphones on, or earbuds in, you are not very cool. Listening to music is a good way to watch others without them thinking you are paying attention, be cool with friends, and is sort of like a baby's security blanket.  As I stand in the hallway in the mornings, it is very interesting to watch how kids interact with each other, especially those wearing the "headphones." (Note: It makes no difference if the music is actually playing, just the appearance of the headphones on your head is sufficient)

Much like fashion "jeans", what type of headphones you have puts you in different social status classes. If you have Dr. Dre's "Monster Beats," (a couple hundred dollars no less), you are definitely part of the elite, untouchables.  If you don't have them, well, you are somewhat scoffed at.

If you own a pair of "skull candy" earbuds, (twenty dollar range),  you are in the middle class and somewhat socially accepted, and if you own just a pair of black no name earbuds (seven dollar range), you might as well go hide in a corner or put them in your locker away from the scathing eyes of your peers.

Some kids are so insecure that they hide their earplugs and ipods in their clothing and have one sticking in their ear up through their hooded sweatshirt. If you aren't looking for it, you might not see it!

Thinking back to my middle school years, I definitely would have fallen into the black, no name, lower class citizen category. I would have been lucky to get a pair from Goodwill that had only one working earbud and a staticy sounding left bud. My parents just didn't care what social class I was in. I wouldn't have wanted a pair of Dr. Dre's for fear of them being stolen or me just masquerading as a rich kid. I would definitely have saved my money from mowing my aunt's lawn to buy a pair of Skull Candy buds.

Actually, now that I think about it, I probably wouldn't have had any earbuds or music device at all.
How about you? What headphone classification do you strive for?