Browsing through the audio section at Dijital Fix, Christmas shopper Nick Hansen knows exactly what he is looking for — a set of headphones that will help him unplug, but that he won’t have to plug in.
“I’m asking Santa for bluetooth headphones because I absolutely hate cords,” said Hansen, “they tangle.”
And his headphones should be big. A graduate student in product design, Hansen said he works in a large, open office and to get work done, he often feigns being anti-social.
“I want the ones that block out the noise and are nice and big to make it obvious that I don’t want to talk to anybody,” he said.
In the midst of a tech boom, a look at the Christmas shopping lists of several Missionites revealed a tech savvy generation’s desire to slow the pace of life — some prefer functionality and quality over innovation, while others are harboring a nostalgic yearning for the antique.
“In terms of gadgets, portability is definitely a trend,” said Lauren Franklin, a sales associate at Dijital Fix at 820 Valencia St. This Christmas season, Franklin said her top sellers include wireless, noise-cancelling headphones and portable speakers. “A lot of people are interested in going the wireless route and are integrating that into their daily lives,” she said.
Explaining that technology is also going “modular,” Franklin said her customers are increasingly looking for “things that can easily be integrated into other things.” Compact technology that is smart in terms of versatility and functionality is trending.
“Having to use bluetooth for this, wifi for that, and batteries for this device, is tedious,” said Franklin. “The rule is the simpler, the better.”
Aaron Levine, a design student, boasts that he has found the perfect modular Christmas gift for tech lovers, and pulled out a gadget from his pocket that resembled a hockey puck.
“This is the greatest little speaker ever,” said Levine convincingly. The palm-sized tech toy is an X-Mini Two Portable Capsule Speaker — a complicated name for a miniature device with many functions.
“This tiny little thing is USB rechargeable, and opens up to get more of base,” said Levine. “You can plug your headphones in here. Plus, you can daisy chain multiple capsules together if you want to get more sound. It’s a huge hit.”
And for just about $10 a pop, he promises that his entire extended family will be equipped with the mini speaker this year.
Clementine Breslin already has portable speakers. The millennial works at an audio online streaming platform, where she is at the source of the latest music technology. Her biggest wish for Christmas? Vinyls, cassettes, film, and other “throwback” technologies.
“I grew up with iTunes and downloading music — the tactile element with this technology is nonexistent,” said Breslin, explaining that she recently began acquiring vinyls — they give her a sense of discovery and ownership she said has been lost in the digitized world. “Finding music in a dollar bin, that’s a feeling that you can’t get from downloading tunes from the internet.”
Another outdated gadget that is making the retro-rounds is the cassette tape player, said Breslin. “Everyone has a reverence for the analog. Maybe not for Christmas, but walkmans will be the next wave of tech trends, I think.”
Her prediction may not be far off. Vic Pizarro, a salesman at the Pawn Shop at 2050 Mission St., said he has received a lot of Christmas gift requests for cassette tape players, walkmans, film cameras and transistor radios.
“There are people out there that just want to listen to a radio without separate speakers and all of that other nonsense,” said Pizarro. “Even kids these days want something physical to hold on to. They come into my store and want the “toys” their parents had. Some of these gadgets look better, sound better, feel better.”
As toymaker Paul Long of DIY.org, a digital education company headquartered at 3360 20th St., muses on the longevity of tech trends, he offers advice for parents planning to place tech toys under their Christmas trees.
“Buy things that either inspire or are lasting,” he said. “We can’t ignore technology, but the things we buy for our children should have some substance beyond the interface.”
Back at Dijital Fix, Breslin selects her Christmas gift, and points to a $200 polaroid camera.
“I still have a couple of those rattling around the trunk of my car,” said her father, Eric, smiling. “I guess it’s true what they say, that everything that’s old is new again, eventually.”