A Guy Lost His AirPods at Burning Man 2 Years Ago and He’s Been Tracking Them Ever Since

Some people are just raised differently. There are folks who, when presented with an obstacle, are taught to overcome said obstacle without inconveniencing others, and doing so in a way that'll make them feel good about themselves and the personality that they're creating in the process of fighting to conquer the slew of inequities that inevitably come their way due to life being...life.

On the flip side, there are some kids who are raised to get bailed out by their moms and dads and blame everyone else around them for their life going to crap and that no misfortune should ever befall them because they're inherently too special to ever be presented with any kind of challenge or difficulty.

Just like there are folks who are taught upon finding something that doesn't belong to them, to try and locate its owner, rather than keep it for themselves and chalk it up to being a ground score.

Now granted, for some items, it's hard to discover who its rightful owner is.

But if it's an expensive product that comes with a serial number used as part of a registration process, like a pair of AirPods, for instance, then it's safe to say if someone wanted to ensure that the pair of wireless earbuds made it back to its original owner, that they'd be able to suss that out.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for Edward Aten (@edwardaten) who posted on Threads about the "journey" his AirPods have been on for the past two years.

According to the Instagram user and festival attendee, the headphones went missing at Burning Man and he's been keeping tabs on their location for quite some time. He posted various screenshots about their disappearance on December 12th, 2023 and in about a week's time saw that the earbuds traveled from Chapin, South Carolina to San Francisco, California.

Different folks who looked into the coordinates of where his AirPods ended up had different theories as to who was using them. One person wrote: "I live across the lake from Chapin! And I was curious so I looked at the tax map. Your air pods now belong to the head of an insurance company."

Someone else came up with a great idea for a way Edward could turn his AirPods theft into a unique opportunity to make a new pal: "What if you meet them and take their air pods? You can be air pods tracker pals. And comment on each other's adventures. Like Dude you've not left your home for a week are you doing alright?"

But there were others who were more concerned with revenge against someone who was raised to steal another person's items instead of attempting to get them back to their legitimate owner: "Can you make them randomly play a find me sound at odd hours? When they first put them in they should be annoying."

Sadly, Edward said that this form of vengeance was currently impossible to carry out, even if he didn't seem all that broken up by their loss: "Unfortunately not.It only shows my phone number on their iPhone when paired.And I have all unknown callers blocked…Godspeed AirPods!"

Another commenter was just shocked that he was able to track them for so long: "It’s wild they can still be tracked by you even if they presumably are being used as Bluetooth headphones!" they wrote.

Prepping for hardcore partying at an extravaganza like Burning Man does take some foresight, and thankfully there are folks who've listed some helpful tips on how to regain a lost cell phone, for instance, if it should end up at the lost and found.

Redditor @quikopoi posted some helpful tips on how to ensure that your phone is linked to you at the festival: "Set your lock screen text or background image to a picture of your camp, location, and your name. Name is critical. If your phone is turned into Lost and Found, they will not be able to deliver the phone to your camp. Fill out the Medical ID, Emergency contacts, and medical information on your phone before the burn. First responders can find your info on your phone even if the screen is locked"

As for your AirPods, well, maybe keeping them in a heavy duty case with some strong labels affixed to them that shows your name and phone number could be pretty helpful in ensuring a kind-hearted partygoer gets you your belongings back.

But then again, it all depends on whether or not the person who finds your headphones was raised by someone who isn't a scumbag.