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Please stop leaving in Apple AirPods while having sex

A survey of sex and music habits says some smooth operators are rocking out with their wireless headphones in. Can you hear me now?

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read
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Who are you people who are not only doing this, but admitting to it?

Sarah Tew/CNET

Are those  AirPods in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? In yet another sign we're living in the final days, some people are apparently leaving their Apple AirPod wireless headphones in their ears while they have sex. Yeah, you know who you are.

Ticket marketplace TickPick surveyed 1,010 people who both enjoy listening to music and are sexually active to discover their preferences in both areas. Answers are self-reported, so it's possible everyone was lying and no one has ever left their AirPods in while getting busy. 

But if you believe the numbers, 17 percent of AirPod owners who responded are rocking out with their, er, AirPods in.

The survey didn't ask necessary follow-up questions, such as: Why? Or are the AirPods actually transmitting music? And if so, are we talking Barry White here, or are the lovers in question just catching up on their This American Life podcast backlog?

Other odd-but-believable results from the TickPick survey: Nearly one in four folk-music fans have cried during sex. Fans of electronic dance music are more likely to admit to sexual fetishes than fans of other genres. Heavy-metal fans are most likely to use contraceptives. More than 25 percent of country-music fans admitted to one-night stands. (Hey, if it weren't for that last one, half of country-music songs might not be written.)

TickPick doesn't specify how many of the 1,010 people surveyed actually own AirPods, so we don't really know how many people that 17 percent represents. Still, one "yes" answer is one "yes" too many.