Headphones and Hearing Loss in Teens

Blaring music is a standard teenage behavior, but chances are, your son or daughter doesn’t realize the potential damage they’re doing to their hearing. 81% of teens listen to music with earphones, but only 8% of adolescents believe that hearing loss is a major health concern.

And in fact, rates of hearing loss among teens today are about 30% higher than in the 1980s and 1990s. Also, 46% of teens show potential signs of hearing loss with occasional ringing, roaring, buzzing, or pain in their ears, and one in six teens report that they experience hearing loss symptoms some or all of the time.

Often, teens don’t realize the dangers of hearing loss because they fail to realize we only have a set number of hair cells in our ears. When sound travels into our ear and vibrates through various passageways, it ripples hair-like cells in our inner ear. Excessive noise kills the hair cells, and when enough of these hair cells die, we experience hearing loss.

Remind your teen that at full volume, digital music devices can make as much noise as a live rock concert, and it only takes eight minutes of listening to music at a very high volume to cause hearing loss. You should be able to hear someone speak to you at a conversational level from about three feet away; if you can’t, your headphones are too loud. You can also recommend the 60/60 rule to your teenager: listen to music for no more than 60 minutes at a time and at no more than 60% volume. Finally, caution your teenager against buying ear buds, which are closer to the ear drum and can cause more hearing loss when used.

As a parent, it’s your job to make sure that your teenager isn’t hurting himself. Make sure that your teenager is well-aware of the dangers of headphones so that they don’t run the risk of hearing loss, and who knows? Maybe hearing loss is the reason they haven’t been listening to you!

I went to Wal-mart

Tonight, I went to Wal-mart. I thought it would be like any other of my many Wal-mart trips I had been on before. I was wrong. Nothing terrible happened but, it could have been really scary. I was shopping with Noah and we were getting ready to head to the check out. I observed a little girl who was no more than 5 if that, running around the store yelling Mommy? Mommy? I started to carefully watch her and see what she was doing. After a few minutes of waiting to see if she was claimed by a grownup I started following her. I was so scared that something would happen to her. I noticed no one was stopping her and asking any questions. After pretty much chasing her with my shopping cart and Noah in the cart. I asked her where is your mommy honey? She responded Chicago. I asked her where is the grown up that was with her? I didn’t understand what she said so I told her to show me.

Well after about 10 or so minutes she found the grown up she was with, who by the way was shopping like it was no big deal that she had no idea where the child was. She wasn’t even looking for her. I kept thinking what if I didn’t follow her? What if I didn’t ask her? Someone could of taken that little girl and been long gone by the time “grandma” would of known the child was gone. I couldn’t find any employees around either. I was half tempted to call 911. It all thankfully worked out, and she found her grandma and hopefully she will keep an eye on her during the rest of their shopping trip and every other trip they take.

Keep an eye on your kids; especially your young kids at the store. If you see a young child without an adult or looking for their parent, please stop whatever you are doing and help the child get back to them safely. I know it might be a nuisance but it is worth it. You could even save that child’s life.

Unknown Dangers of YouTube

Almost everybody has heard of YouTube. Even kids have gone to YouTube and looked at videos. I know this first hand because I have observed them doing it. Not my son of course he is way too young to figure out what it is. There are a lot of disturbing things on there. I started thinking about the Gummy Bear video I was forced to watch 50 times in a row this summer and since I am bored I went to YouTube like I had done a million times before and proceeded to watch it. The video is kind of silly with a Gummy Bear singing with its little booty hanging out a little at the top. OK no big deal I guess. I made it half way through the song and I got annoyed really quickly. Then I remembered about the Hampster Dance phase and listening to Crazy Frog with an old friend and her kids. I thought I hadn’t heard The Hampster Dance in a coon’s age so I was like what the heck. So I searched it on You Tube and I was disgusted by what I saw.

Parents, please be sure you are 100% aware of what your children are watching and doing on the internet. Parental controls are great but there will be stuff that slips through the cracks. You could be like oh Junior looked at The Hampster Dance on YouTube, no big deal.

I typed in the words Hampster Dance in YouTube’s search and the THIRD video on the first page is a video of a man in his 20’s or 30’s wearing a fanny pack dancing to Techno Music. He gets naked. You can’t see any actual parts but you can see it wiggling through his underwear. They do close ups on this too. Then he gets completely naked, well he is wearing just a fanny pack and watches a real hamster dance. I repeat this is the third video listed from the top on the first page for hamster dance.

So, please be fully aware of what your children, grandchildren etc, are looking at by supervising them at all times. If you think that they will get on the computer while you sleep, password protect it and hide the cords and the keyboards. The internet can be a very scary place for children and teens.