Rebecca Dolan writes about various reasons why people wear AirPods besides listening to music. Some people are wearing AirPods because they don’t want other people to talk to them in certain settings.

Zach Miles learned a valuable lesson shortly before graduating this year from Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. Walking across campus while wearing his AirPods earphones kept people at a distance. “If you’re not in the mood to talk to somebody, or if you’re in a hurry, it gives someone a visual signal,” he said.

Mr. Miles brought that knowledge to his working life in Colorado Springs, Colo., where his AirPods remain a shield against awkward small talk. “It’s a crutch,” admitted the 22-year-old app developer.

Beware of rich people wanting to change the world. Changing the world is something we hear quite often in Silicon Valley, but it usually rings hollow.

At first, you think: Rich people making a difference — so generous! Until you consider that America might not be in the fix it’s in had we not fallen for the kind of change these winners have been selling: fake change.

Of course, world-changing initiatives funded by the winners of market capitalism do heal the sick, enrich the poor and save lives. But even as they give back, American elites generally seek to maintain the system that causes many of the problems they try to fix — and their helpfulness is part of how they pull it off. Thus their do-gooding is an accomplice to greater, if more invisible, harm.

A good example of this is Elon Musk. If he can’t turn it into a publicity stunt, it doesn’t matter to him. Whatever happened to his “fixing” of the Flint water crisis?