Malina Friesen

Infographic made by Malina Friesen on Canva featuring an Airpod in the center.

High school students everywhere constantly have airpods in their ears, blasting loud music. From the school halls to active classrooms, the use of airpods has become a school necessity, raising the question of whether:  are airpods positively affecting us or another way to cause problems. The constant use of AirPods may come with social and academic impacts. 

According to an article called, “What Impact Do Airpods Have On Students” from The Mycenaean, a newspaper from Leesville Road High School, “out of 200 students, 158 of them said they wear AirPods in school.” This research has found that AirPods are a very popular item and are used on the daily. A negative aspect to the frequent use of AirPods is that it releases low levels of EMF’s (electrical and magnetic fields). These EMFs release radiation into your body and your brain which can cause health complications. However, the National Institute of Environmental Health Service explains these low levels of EMF are most likely harmless to humans. 

Freshman Coral Turner believes the impacts of AirPod use are positive when she is completing classwork.

“I like to use airpods to block out others and this allows me to get much more work done than I would get done if I were talking to others and not focusing,” Turner said.

Freshman Kapri Mejia uses AirPods to increase her focus.

 “It drowns out everyone’s talking which allows me to be able to focus on my classwork,” Mejia said.

Teachers often don’t want students using AirPods because they are connected to their phones. Usually on the first day of school, teachers explain on the syllabus whether or not they refrain from AirPods use.

When students don’t put their phones away, they are often checking messages, emails, Instagram, and other social media apps. A solution to this is that AirPods also connect to computers. Since students say music helps boost productivity, putting phones into the students’ backpacks or a phone caddy can be effective in not check devices while using AirPods.

Airpod use has both negative and positive effects on students. When students decide to use AirPods responsibly and not get distracted by their phones, AirPods seem to be more of a help than a harm.