One Lesson for My Daughter By Allowing Her to Buy a Useless Hyped Product Influenced by Social Media

Paying US$250 for a hyped useless product (headphones), but a bargain for a life lesson.

Table of Contents:
· The Story
· The Teachable Lessons
∘ Lesson 1. Hypes in E2E Test Automation are Very Common.
∘ Lesson 2. Business Partners Can Become Adversaries Over Money Matters

The Story

Over the weekend, we cleaned up the garages and discovered a pair of expensive headphones my daughter bought in 2015, which were rarely used. On her birthday that year, when she was still in middle school, she mentioned wanting a pair of headphones. I gladly agreed since she rarely asked for specific gifts on her birthdays, and I asked her, “Which brand?” She hesitantly explained that the product wasn’t available yet and needed to be pre-ordered.

The headphones, designed by two university students in California, had somehow gained traction. My daughter, living in Australia, somehow really wanted a pair (influenced by social media and her peers).

Those two Uni students went to Indiegogo for funding.

It received over A$5 million in funding.

Anyway, my daughter put the order in (I made the payment), from the memory, for US$250, which was not cheap. It is not even wireless or noise-cancelling.

I knew this would be a hyped product and would end up no good. Two simple reasons:

• Headphones need to be light, putting speakers on a headphone?!
• Those two Uni students are highly likely wouldn’t be able to deal with the sudden fortune.

But I didn’t try to dissuade my daughter. Not only did I not want to disappoint her, but also because it would be a good life lesson, and $250 seemed like a reasonable price for that experience.