Do you know of anyone who has hearing loss? My husband, my uncle, and my dad all have hearing loss. It was caused by loud machines, like Military planes or factory noises. It scares me to think of our children's generation and what their hearing loss is going to be. It certainly doesn't make me feel excellent. Yes, many people play music loudly, but they did in other generations. Maybe not quite as loudly because technology has improved but still loud. Now everything is catered toward isolating our children and placing loud headphones on their sensitive, gently ears. At least the Ipod has a parent control to lock the volume level. But let's take a minute to see when our children use earphones: game boys, videos/dvds in the cars and vans, Playstation and other games, MP3 players, children's reading books and more. This things are designed to isolate the children so they can hear their toys and they don't disturb us. They are suppose to disturb us. We are suppose to interact with them. That's how they learn (we learn this way also). It is a healthy relationship to listen and actually communicate and play with our children. Technology is wonderful but nothing takes the place of people.
How can we use our headphones in a healthy way? How often do you monitor the sound on those devises? We monitor our children's devices often, and if we can avoid the earphones, we will. It is much healthier for their gentle ears to not use headphones and just hear the sounds mixed into their environment. You want your children to feel excellent and not be prone to hearing loss. And you want to feel excellent about your choices and know that you protected their ears, not promote damaging them.
Just a side note for all the adults too. As you workout, more blood flows through your body and, of course, through your ears. Your hearing actually improves with your workout so stop cranking up the music to get psyched especially if you are wearing earphones. I use a Sony Bean as my MP3 player and often start the volume on 5 and end on 3 when I workout. Listen to your body and be healthy. Feel excellent about your overall health which includes your ears.
REMEMBER: EVERYONE DESERVES TO FEEL EXCELLENT & BE HEALTHY!
