the idea that every day life is so full of things you don't want to hear is what's alarming. True but alarming to consider.

traffic

i would buy them to cancel out the sirens and the constant traffic

yeah, and people talking on cell phones, and people blasting their music and shows on their phones in public places and so many other intrusive sounds. I just shudder to think we aren't going back. We're

never going back to a time when you could expect quiet unless you invited noise in.

I use them for planes. They're pretty much useless for everyday conversation but they're great for drowning out background low level noise.

They say noise cancelling, but they're really not 100% noise cancelling, You still hear stuff.

im not getting why this is so alarming?? its just an in ear version of headphones that have been around forever, so you can hear your music and stuff without having too much background noise. and these have an

"aware" mode so that you can hear more if you need to. its not like they are earplugs that you use to keep out the world.