Hidden Dangerous of the Ubiquitous iPod

It is somewhat unlikely that you will be hit by lightening, but not as unlikely as you may believe.

Here are some raw statististics, as reported by WLEXTV18 of Lexington, Kentucky

ODDS OF BECOMING A LIGHTNING VICTIM

• 280,000,000: U.S. 2000 Census population
• 1/700,000: Odds of being struck by lightning in a given year (reported deaths + injuries)
• 1/240,000: Odds of being struck by lightning in a given year (estimated total deaths + injuries)
• 1/3000: Odds of being struck in your lifetime (Est. 80 years)
• 1/300: Odds you will be affected by someone being struck (Ten people affected for every one struck)

We're gathered here today not to lament for that person you know or known to someone who you know, he or she who was struck by lightening that time, but instead to consider a new factor associated with this ancient peril.

The iPod. Bringer of lightening.

I suspect that any MP3 player -- any device with headphones -- would cause the same result, but iPod is the one everyone in the developed world has or seems to want, and iPod is the one in the news. Apparently if you wear it outside during a thunderstorm, you are taking quite a risk.

Beware: listen to an iPod outdoors during a thunderstorm, and the last thing you hear could be great balls of fire. (excerpt from a story in the Guardian Unlimited)

A number of cases in the US suggest that using the popular music player during a
thunderstorm increases the severity of injuries suffered by anyone struck by
lightning.

While lightning usually flashes over a victim's skin, the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reports that the headphones of an iPod can act as a conductor, directing a bolt of electricity straight inside the listener's ear - rupturing eardrums and leaving severe burns.

(You'd think that, living in New England as I do, I would have read this in the New England Journal of Medicine rather than in the Manchester, England newspaper, but no.) Read the whole story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2125560,00.html

First, let's consider the basic risk associated with all headphones, and thus with this immensely popular device, that of hearing loss. (Remember that Washington Post article? Oh, and you'll find dozens more - Slashdot, Buzzle, BetaNews. Or maybe you heard a rapper talk about this in your high school at a school assembly.) Just as keyboards are associated with an increased risk of repetitive motion, this technology comes at a price for some users. Yes, with all life, there is risk. This risk is worth thinking about, however, because it is related to a consumer choice under your control, and thus can, in theory, be more easily managed than many other types of risk. In fact, it can even be entirely avoided. But in our culture in 2007, what are the odds that you will forgo headphones and associated devices entirely?

And now let's consider what happens when you are struck by lightening. Instead of flashing over your skin and dispersing, scorching hair, perhaps leaving burns, the lightening follows the track of those ear buds straight to your eardrums, and, yes, also to your hip or whereever you'd stowed your iPod.


Jason Bunch recovers from his injuries in July 2006 after lightning struck nearby as he was listening to his iPod while mowing the lawn in Castle Rock, Colorado. Photograph: Helen H Richardson/The Denver Post/AP

I love technology and gadgets. They make life better. There should, however, be an evaluation of the associated risks.

My question has to do with risk and consumer choice. Whose responsibility is it to evaluate the risks of that hot new device that will change everything? Is it the inventor's, the manufacturer's, the consumer's, the government's? Another entity? Do these and/or others share the responsibility, or is it all in the hands of one party?

How you answer (and if you attempt to answer at all) will probably reflect the culture in which you were raised. Typical American answers vary a bit across the political spectrum, with the most common answer being that the manufacturer and consumer share responsibility: it is the manufacturer's responsibility to provide a quality product that functions as it is expected to, and the consumer's responsibility to choose the device and study the known risks and the fine print. The government is usually disinvited from the party by some and disproportionately held accountable by others.

What do you think?

Oh, and please be careful. Watch the skies.