At first, I thought these were just safety pins. A few crusty, rusty sources of tetanus.
It doesn’t appear that they are being used to keep the ear attached, so I assumed they were just ornamental. “Oh! What fools we mortals be, whence we blighteth thy neighbor’s lobe.”
I should have known better. Seriously, who would stick safety pins in their ears for no reason? These are actually high powered micro-transceivers. Very high tech.
Each of the four receivers is tuned to a different frequency span. The first one picks up the internet via a satellite link. URLs are selected verbally or telepathically and projected on a pair of glasses (reminiscent of Google Glasses). Micro speakers are embedded in each ear.
The second transceiver is tuned to a classified frequency known only to the user.
The third transceiver serves as a communication device allowing the user verbal contact with his classified contacts or order takeout. It does not rely on cell towers and is untraceable. You can also play games on it.
The fourth transceiver picks up AM, mostly talk radio stations.
They really pretty rusty, too.