I use a headphone jack when I’m looking for a particular listening experience, which I have amp / DAC / etc for. If I’m using my phone to listen, I’m both not worried about sound quality, and don’t want to be tethered to it by a cord.

I suppose if I were really arsed about it, I’d just get a USBC dongle. That said, I can see where that would be a hassle for people that prefer wired, and I think I’ve held only a couple of phones in my life that couldn’t have just accommodated a headphone jack instead of saving the 1.5 cents it probably costs to leave it out.

I’ll admit, my initial decision to just use wireless was more from seeing the writing on the wall; airpods sales would need to basically evaporate to get most of the manufacturers to course change at this point. Hell, the phone I’m currently using is the first I’ve had in years that even came with a charging brick in the box, so I’m assuming ditching the cable is next, followed by microtransactions to use various built in apps and services… like the phone dialer. Need to keep them margins infinitely expanding to appease shareholders.

Although I could argue there are worse scenes in general, the one with the most impact for me, that almost cut my Trek fandom short… the handholding jellyfish at the end of TNG’s debut 2 parter.

I watched it when it first aired, and I cringed so hard that my family thought I had a stroke. Really, those episodes were full of stuff that made you feel like an ass telling your friend new to Trek that “it gets better,” but that really was the whipped cream and cherry on top.

One of those weird, rare situations where Google seems to do something right. They said the cost was $100, and every month I pay $100. I’m assuming fees are built into that, but my bill never deviates from the price I was told, which is really all I care about.