Re: Are Earbuds suppose to work like this?

In a way. It's just very disappointing. I guess I'll just keep using the stereo for now since my sims can do other things with them around and hope it's changed in the future. 

@Sysomi

Feel free to post at the Feedback forum if you have concerns about the current design:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/categories/TS4-feedback

EDIT: Just to add, if you turn the earbuds On, the Sim will still listen to them and will be able to multitask.