From infants to teenagers, unexpected health issues may arise with increased technology use.
Kids today use technology on a daily basis. While these devices help in many areas of life, they also can be harmful to your children. White Noise and Infant Hearing Many parents use white noise machines to wipe out ambient noise in their infant’s room to help them sleep soundly.
However, a new Canadian study published in the journal “Pediatrics,” found that noise may also affect the baby’s hearing, speech and language development. “Hearing thresholds that are recommended in the nursery should not exceed 50 decibels,” says Dr. Samantha Anne, an otolaryngologist at Cleveland Clinic’s Head & Neck Institute. University of Toronto researchers measured the sound levels of 14 infant sleep machines.
The machines were played at maximum volumes, or 50 decibels, to simulate placement on a crib rail (30 cm), 3 feet away from the crib (100 cm) and about 6.5 feet away (200 cm). Results showed that all 14 machines exceeded the recommended noise limit at 30 and 100 cm; 13 out of 14 exceeded noise levels at 200 cm.
In fact, if the machines were played more than eight hours, the noise would exceed the current occupational limits for adults. Researchers say that regular exposure to white noise through an infant machine can contribute to a baby’s hearing loss and disrupt speech and language development. “Use it with caution,” Anne says. “Put it the furthest away from the baby, turn it down as low as possible, and turn it off as soon as the baby falls asleep.”
Earbuds and Hearing Loss
“Can you hear me now?” If your teen is like most — with a smartphone or listening device in hand with booming tunes in their ears at almost all times — chances are they can’t. “Twelve to 15 percent of teenagers have hearing loss to some degree,” says Dr. Sharon Sandridge, director of Clinical Services in Audiology at Cleveland Clinic’s Head & Neck Institute.
“Early exposure to noise results in inner ear damage, which is permanent and may not be experienced until later on — when it’s too late to prevent it.” That hearing loss, according to “Pediatrics,” is a direct result of using earphones turned to a high volume.
Sandridge says that volume level and length of listening time are important considerations for using these devices safely. “Eighty percent volume for a maximum of 90 minutes is the general rule of thumb,” Sandridge says.
“If listening for an amount of time longer than 90 minutes, the volume should be turned down” or lessen the amount of listening time. Mobile Devices And “Text Neck” About five years ago, Dr. Andrew Bang, a chiropractor for Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute, began seeing a new trend in his practice — more and more parents were bringing their teens in to help ease neck pain.
It didn’t take Bang long to realize the cause, now referred to as “text neck.” The teens were “sitting in the waiting room with their chins on their chests, looking at their smartphones,” he says. The poor, hunched-over posture that results overstretches the muscles in the neck, causing pain. “Our head weighs about 10-12 pounds,” says Bang. “Severe strain comes upon the neck as your head falls forward to view your mobile device.”
Bang prescribes massage therapy to ease soreness and teaches simple exercises for strengthening the surrounding neck muscles during his appointments, but he says the best thing to do to avoid “text neck” is to adopt new habits. The key is to “move the mobile phone so that the head rests in a more neutral position,” he says. Making a habit of raising the device to eye level helps. If your kids are sitting while reading a tablet, encourage them to bring their knees up and rest their elbows on them as they’re holding the device.
“Selfies” and Lice: Debunking the Myth
News broke this winter that an increase of lice cases among teens was due to the “selfie” phenomenon sweeping the nation, but is there really a link between the two? Dr. Emma Raizman, pediatrician at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital, says there is no evidence to show that this trend is real. “These claims are too new to be well studied, but we do know that an estimated 6 million to 12 million infestations occur in the country each year among pre-school and elementary school-age children, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control),” Raizman says. “Other populations of children, such as teenagers and young adults —the ones who take most of the selfies — do not typically get lice, so we do not have reliable data on them. I can say personally and for my colleagues, we have not seen any increase in lice in the younger or older children in our practice.”
It would be unlikely for teens to spread lice during selfies because teens rarely carry lice, and you can’t spread something you don’t have in the first place. Lice are most common in 3-10-year-olds. Also, lice crawl rather than fly or jump so you need prolonged head-to-head contact to spread lice.
The limited moments of head-to-head contact needed to take a selfie would be very unlikely to spread the creepy, crawly critters. What is more likely and potentially more dangerous than lice from selfies is fear and overtreatment. What kids and parents think are lice often are just dandruff, dried hair products or dead skin.
The products and services (such as local lice clinics) used to commonly treat lice can have significant side effects, cause discomfort and cost a great deal of money. Also, the misdiagnosis of lice can cause embarrassment for children and families. If in doubt, the best resource is your pediatrician or family physician.
