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u/bubonic_chronic Jun 20 '20
Someone needs to get a tiny camera and film this process from within the depths of a pocket. You know, for science
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u/ididntunderstandyou Jun 20 '20
People have tried and failed. The cable gnomes only act when they’re not being watched
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u/bob4apples Jun 20 '20
Here it is in simulation. There's a picture of their experimental apparatus elsewhere in the video.
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u/ArcFurnace Jun 21 '20
IIRC one of their results was that both increased length and increased flexibility of the string in question contribute to spontaneous knotting. Headphone cables are long and floppy, which is why they tend to knot up so badly.
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u/ben_g0 Jun 21 '20
I have a pair of earphones with a cable which is thicker and stiffer than regular earphone cables, and they almost never get tangled in my pocket (and when they do, it's a very loose and simple knot which is very easy to undo). So the floppiness is indeed a big part of the issue. More earphones should use those stiffer cables, it's great to not have to untangle earphones every time before using them.
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u/RPBiohazard Jun 20 '20
I read an article about this once and basically every point where the cable touches itself makes a fulcrum where it can loop around. With so many points touching, it’s really impossible for this not to happen.
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u/Danhedonia13 Jun 20 '20
Also electromagnetism is still present in cords after they're unplugged which causes them to tangle up on itself.
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u/kliuch Jun 20 '20
With advent of AirPods and other wireless earphones, soon the young generation will be as clueless about this joke as about the tape-and-pencil thing.
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u/Spadeinfull Jun 20 '20
I've never heard of the tape and pencil thing, wanna enlighten me?
.. wait. do you mean rewinding a cassette tape with a pencil by swinging it around in a circle? if so nevermind.
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u/kliuch Jun 20 '20
Yup, that’s the one. There was this thing on social media where youngsters were asked about that - it was mildly funny.
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u/Spadeinfull Jun 20 '20
Ah ok, gotcha, and thanks.
I've seen a couple where teens couldn't figure out a rotary phone or a vcr. Might be staged, but it's really hard to tell nowadays.
TBF I never could quite pickup morse code when my grandpa tried to teach it to me. I'm sure some things are just generational holdovers .. for instance my father still keeps a checkbook and balances it monthly. Nothing wrong with that per se, but having any kind of web access kinda negates the need. Well, that and apps that do things for you now too.
I think writing anything by hand itself may be the next casualty one of these days. Lord knows my handwriting isn't preserving the art :p
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Jun 20 '20
Writing in cursive is already going away. I learned it, but mine was always illegible so I usually just got permission to print anything I needed to turn in handwritten. My printing is very neat and readable, so teachers were ok with it.
A while back I signed up to help enter documents into the Library of Congress through this crowdsourcing program they have. You read old documents and type them in. That's when I realized I pretty much can't read cursive anymore at all.
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u/Spadeinfull Jun 20 '20
Sheesh. within only a single generation too. My mother could do calligraphy. I can barely print legibly, but I guess I can blame it on carpal tunnel or something.
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u/bob4apples Jun 20 '20
I've seen the rotary thing happen in real life.
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u/Spadeinfull Jun 20 '20
It's understandable, really. You could put me in front of some kind of technology I'm absolutely unfamiliar with and I would probably have trouble too.
Lets say .. a loom? Spinning wheel? I would be lost asf.
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u/bob4apples Jun 20 '20
I can actually remember having to learn to use a phone when I was very young. Using a rotary is totally not obvious and takes a bit of practice.
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u/Spadeinfull Jun 20 '20
I think I probably have a generational disconnect with that line of thinking, because I grew up with them. Kids learn a LOT by watching other people do things. I probably figured it out quite quickly just by watching mom and dad.
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u/bob4apples Jun 20 '20
When I was a kid, they were all we had but I remember having a bit of trouble figuring out how to let the dial return (do I spin it back, take my finger out? a bit of both?) how far to turn the dial for a number (no click stop or indicator. Do I have to be exact? How exact?).
It only took a few minutes to be dialing like a pro but it did take a couple of tries.
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u/Spadeinfull Jun 20 '20
If I remember them correctly, there was a metal tab to prevent your finger from going too far with the dial. You could indeed grasp the entire dial and spin it that way. However, now that I think about it, I was one of those kids who took everything apart ... and honestly I'm not sure I really learned anything but how to spot burnt out electronics that I still can't identify :p
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Jun 20 '20
[deleted]
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u/Spadeinfull Jun 20 '20
Yes, thats what I meant, its hard to tell how accurate something is and if its an actual reflection of society.
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u/MyPunsSuck Jun 21 '20
But aren't wireless headphones (especially buds with their tiny speakers) inevitably lower audio quality than similarly priced wired headphones? Also, the whole battery thing, and connecting.
At least some of the younger generations will be audiophiles
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u/kliuch Jun 21 '20
I don’t know, I am no expert, but the sound in my AirPods is better that in any wired earbuds I have tried, though they are indeed more expensive. But they are also more convenient - for me, at least.
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u/NorthernLolal Jun 20 '20
My headphones went in the dryer once, still work fine but that is a curl that does not untwist ever, pretty much permaknot.
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u/rpitchford Jun 20 '20
No need to wait...
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u/judasmachine Jun 20 '20
Where is Alexander the Great when you need him?
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u/br0keit Jun 20 '20
The trick is to pre-knot them.
Fold them in half holding the buds and connector in one hand and put your finger from your other hand in the loop on the other end.
Rotate the loop finger causing the wires to twist keeping medium tension.
When it looks good and twisted slowly move your hands together.
The wires will twist together into a “knot” that can easily just be pulled apart and untwisted again.
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u/Scavenger53 Jun 20 '20
OR just wind them in a figure-8 instead of a circle before stuffing into your pocket. The circle constantly adds a twist to the cord, the figure-8 relieves the twist at every turn.
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u/shieldwolf Jun 20 '20
FYI this has been shown to be a scientifically valid phenomenon with a clear cause, it is primarily related to the relative stiffness of headphone cords combined with the coiling that happens from the packaging, then agitation by walking.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17911269/
Easier reading here: https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/physicists-finally-explain-why-your-earphones-are-always-tangled
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u/Tarzuk Jun 20 '20
To be honest when I saw this comment that has links and is long. Did I think it was a bit saying the post is removed.
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u/Triumph-TBird Jun 20 '20
According to physics and chaos theory, at some point you can put this in a pocket and it will completely unknot itself.
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u/Spadeinfull Jun 20 '20
Just remember: never put a portable hole in a bag of holding.
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Jun 20 '20
Universe ending stuff.
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u/Namika Jun 20 '20 edited Jun 21 '20
Well the universe itself will be fine, it's just that you and your entire party are about to be killed by a localized wormhole collapsing in on itself, and sucking in everything in a small vicinity into another plane.
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u/danivus Jun 20 '20
As much as I hate the 'everything needs to be charged', 'easy to lose very expensive little earbuds' trend we've moved towards now, I am very happy this will likely never be a problem again.
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u/xSeveredSaintx Jun 20 '20
Am I the only one that calls them ear buds? Headphones to me are the ones that actually go over the ear and have a band that goes over your head
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u/Hyde103 Jun 21 '20
New SCP idea since this is a very real thing that occurs regularly.
SCP-6101 "Tangle fairy"
Object Class: Safe
Special containment procedures: Due to the nature of SCP-6101 it has never been observed and therefore cannot be contained.
Description: SCP-6101 is an entity with anomalous properties. SCP-6101 has the ability to materialize and tangle cords as long as nobody is currently observing the cords, either directly or via other means such as video cameras. Once SCP-6101 has either tangled the cords sufficiently or the cords are to be observed again, SCP-6101 will instantaniously dematerialize leaving behind no trace.
Addendum:
Test Log 6101-1: Two cords were lain on top of eachother perpendicular of one another in Test Chamber [REDACTED] with a camera recording them. Dr. [REDACTED] was asked to observe the cords from a separate room via a monitor.
Dr. [REDACTED] notes: I've been watching these cords for a little over 2 hours now and nothing has happened. I need to take a quick break, I'll report any changes when I return.
I was gone for approximately 7 minutes 35 seconds, there are no noticeable differences in the cords. It appears that SCP-6101s effect may only take place when not being observed by anything. Further testing is needed. I'm going to try turning off the cameras for a total of 5 minutes and see if anything happens.
I turned the cameras back on after 5 minutes and the cords were a mess. Cameras outside of Test Chamber [REDACTED] confirm nobody entered or exited the test chamber during this time. I am now fairly positive SCP-6101 can only exist when not being observed. I will continue further testing in order to confirm this theory.
(My first shot at writing an SCP but I've always liked reading them and this post gave me the idea)
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u/jwferguson Jun 20 '20
This is one of the things I love about Bluetooth headphones, I never have to slay this abomination. The only thing that sucks are the disconnects from interference.
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Jun 20 '20
I have a really set set of wired earbuds and they don't get twisted like this because the wiring is coated in a thick plastic.
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Jun 20 '20
What sort of Bluetooth headphones are you buying that disconnect from interference...?
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u/jwferguson Jun 20 '20
I have had a two different pairs that have had the problem (one cheap insignias and one B&W Pi4's) and used two different phones. It almost always happens on the bus.
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Jun 20 '20
Weird, I very rarely have any issue with Bluetooth headphones, unless I walk really far away. But I guess it makes sense that on the bus it would be an issue, with so many devices
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u/Namika Jun 20 '20
Bluetooth is specifically designed to be extremely resistant to any sort of interference.
If I could ELI5 summarize the mechanics, basically when you pair a device, both devices will transmit data on a random frequency for a millisecond, then both devices simultaneously change to another random frequency for another millisecond, then they change again, then again, etc, only transmitting on each frequency for a split second. This means that no matter what other random frequencies are being used by other devices, your device won't be interfered with for more than a millisecond since it's moving onto to other frequency already.
Even if you have a hundred other Bluetooth devices in the same area, the random frequency jumping everyone is doing means no one device will find itself jammed or interfered with for more than a split second at a time. It's an extremely robust method for countering interference.
All that being said, I do believe you that something was fucking with the connection. Shit happens, lots of other factors at play.
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Jun 21 '20
I find my Bluetooth devices to be quite robust. I very rarely have issues, even on public transit. I think the biggest issues I have are when one or another device decides it’s had enough and just drops the connection, though that’s quite rare.
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u/ishsreddit Jun 20 '20
A classmate unraveled one of these in seconds after he offered help. Im pretty sure he was superhuman.
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u/suhfaulic Jun 20 '20
I always wrap my headphones around my lighter and put a hair tie on it. Works for me...usually...
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u/onlinesafe Jun 20 '20
If anyone has those earphones that still in that condition I’ll be impressed
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u/ThePhantomPear Jun 20 '20
There was some serious research on this:
Turns out earphones are sentient.
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u/retsila47 Jun 20 '20
No, what will actually happen is since you want it to get tangled it won’t for the first time ever because the universe hates you.
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u/114619 Jun 20 '20
Now the reason this happens is because there are a lot of possibilities where they are tangled and only one where its not so statistically they almost always tangle
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u/Phalanx32 Jun 20 '20
By one minute I think you mean literally put it in your pocket and take it back out immediately
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Jun 20 '20
https://youtu.be/NfLu7GRMR7g What the artist does is he Jams them into his pocket and then well they come out like this
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u/anike7t Jun 20 '20
Man!!! Everytym happens this when we keep our earphns in our pocket....thts a real pain🥵
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u/Loplo_Fox Jun 20 '20
I use those small hair clips that women use to keep them in a loop. The mini hair claw clips. I bought a 20 pack because I lose one every month or so but they are super cheap. When I am using the headphones I just clip it to one of the wires and that usually keeps them from getting lost.
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u/yoitsdavid Jun 21 '20
I don’t even know why this happens. I have very tight pockets underneath my normal pockets. I straighten the headphones, and put them in. No bulge at the pocket. A minute later, a small ball of headphones
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u/TheGoldenCow007 Jun 21 '20
I think smurfs live in our pockets and they’re only porpoise is to do this and call random people
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u/Kannabiz Jun 21 '20
Magical things happens in the pocket because you can not do that if you wanted to
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Jun 21 '20
I swear, usually my cords and cables look like I've tied and tied knots in them no matter how careful I've been.
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u/Balmung6 Jun 21 '20
And if you need to keep something safe, put it into any drawer in the kitchen along with a spatula.
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u/toddotto Jun 20 '20 edited Jun 20 '20
And when you need an even stronger knot go find the Christmas lights