An amazingly simple solution for an extremely aggravating problem.
Whether it’s to amp yourself up on the way to work or school or to help you wind down at the end of the day, a little music can really make your commute more enjoyable. But your daily train or bus ride becomes much less pleasant when you spend half of it trying to unravel a tangled pair of earphones, accidentally elbowing your fellow passengers and ending up with only enough time to hear a fraction of your planned playlist before your stop comes up.
But why is it so easy for your earphones to become such a twisted mess in your pocket or bag? One way of putting it is that there are hundreds of ways for a cord to be tangled, but only one way it can be straight, and simple statistics are working against you.
So the best plan is to make sure your earbuds are knotted in an organized fashion, and Japanese Twitter user @Hase54N has shared a video of an amazingly simple and effective solution.
First, lay the earphones in the palm of your hand, and pinch the cord between your middle and ring fingers.
Next, wrap the cord around your index finger, going from the front to around the back.
Next, pull the cord back in front of your pinkie, and wrap it around the smallest finger.
From this point, keep alternating back and forth between your index finger and pinkie, which should produce a figure eight-shaped spool of cord.
Eventually you’ll end up with just a short stub that’s too short to complete another circuit. Slide the figure eight off your fingers, and wrap the remaining length of cord around its center.
Finally, insert the jack into the central loop, pinning everything together in one tidy package without a single random tangle.
This spooling method is just as impressive when you want to undo the whole thing. Just hold the earphones in one hand, unhook the jack with the other, and pull.
True, making the figure eight does take a few seconds, but after a few times the process should become more or less automatic, and the amount of time, not to mention aggravation, this technique will save you makes it a smart alternative to just jamming your earphones into your pocket.
Source: Jin
Images: Twitter/@Hase54N