Portable devices useful or harmful?

Portable devices such as ipods (mp3s), mobile-phones etc, have become worldwide these days. People nowadays prefer light and small things those are easy to be equipped. As the users of portable devices (and its costs) increase annually, there will be more bad consequences of car or train accidents to be happened.

So why People use portable devices?
The biggest reason would be to enjoy entertainments such as music,videos,or games at anytime anywhere carrying those small things wherever they go as they normally are very easy to be equipped. Some of the devices even let you to communicate with people through it without seeing them face to face.

However, according to the articles (that I have bookmarked on my delicious), people died in train or car accidents seemed that they have been listening to their ipods in high volume with earphones while crossing the road. The high volume of the mp3 players may have prevented them from hearing the car or train engines.

They tell you how it is dangerous with your ears blocked off with loud music or texting during any actions and drivers of any kind of vehicles need to take a serious think about it too. Of course pedestrians need to be more cautious when walking or crossing the road, but quite a few of drivers don't realize how risky it is to roll a cigarette, text, watch videos, or to listen to the music while driving. They just tend to ignore its risks and don't even imagine accidents would ever happen to them in their entire lives.

There was another article about a truck driver who has been texting and talking on another phone at the same time while driving and had broken into a property, (got crashed into an in-ground swimming pool) sounded so awful being not so serious with operating a vehicle on the road even it’s a matter of life and death . As I think, there must have been a large number of accidents happened with drivers who had no cautiousness and I guess it was a worthwhile how New Zealand Government has started applying the law since last November on drivers to be free-handed while driving.

Furthermore, another problem which occurs to youngsters who use ipods and mp4 players with earphones in such high volume for several hours a day is that it could bring them serious hearing problems in their later years. According to Professor Peter Rabinowitz of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine programme at Yale University. “More than 90 per cent of young people listen to the devices, often for several hours a day and at maximum volume. Listening to ipod with earphones inserted into the ear canal intensifies the volume which can reach over 120 decibels, equivalent to the noise from a jet engine.” - Jeremy Laurence, NZ Herald

As what Jeremy Laurence said in his article, it seems that listening to ipods in high volume is the worst way to overstrain the functions of ears, but people prefer to enjoy the music or videos louder and lively with earphones and block everything out that they don’t want to care about and they like to just carry on living in their own world.

However, Portable Devices surely do come useful in some ways like when you need things (such as files) to be moved or saved from a computer to another kind of portable device, or texting and calling on mobile phones in an emergency. But they are useful only if they don’t give bad influences in any ways to those who use them so often.

Whether or not you think portable devices are useful to you, you must consider whether they are useful and worthwhile and it would be better to find out a good way of using them because if you make a wrong choice, they could become just as tools for suicide (well, possibly). I guess there won’t be any bad happenings if you try not to be so addict to anything which could bring you risks into your life (like what happened with Abigail and K.W Goodhall ).

Reference list


Ray Conally (2009) Irritating, antisocial - and now they're destroying our children's hearing. As Brussels vows to cut the noise of MP3 players, why not just bin them instead? Retrieved 28 Apr,2010 from

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1235924/Irritating-antisocial--theyre-destroying-childrens-hearing-As-Brussels-vows-cut-noise-MP3-players-just-bin-instead.html

Daily Mail (200?) Milly's mother in texting plea Retrieved 28 Apr,2010 from

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-199406/Millys-mother-texting-plea.html

Mail Foreign Service (2009) Trucker crashes into a swimming pool texting on one mobile phone while he was talking on another Retrieved 28 Apr,2010 from
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1203395/Pictured-Trucker-crashes-swimming-pool-texting-mobile-phone-talking-another.html

Paul Sims (2009) The £9,000 teenager: Mobiles and iPods push spending to 12 times 1975 levels Retrieved 28 Apr,2010 from

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1158521/The-9-000-teenager-Mobiles-iPods-push-spending-12-times-1975-levels.html

Dom Cruz(Flickr) (2010) Study: Ipods can damage your hearing Retrieved 29 Apr,2010 from

http://au.ibtimes.com/contents/20100425/ipods-mp3-damage-hearing-australia-health-news.htm

Daily Mail Reporter (2010) Coroner's warning after teenage cyclist wearing iPod killed by car she couldn't hear Retrieved 29 Apr,2010 from

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1037929/Coroners-warning-teenage-cyclist-wearing-iPod-killed-car-hear.html

Jeremy Laurence (2010) Warning: iPods can damage your hearing Retrieved 29 Apr,2010 from

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10639878

Edward Gay (2010) Device's role in fatal crash highlights driver safety Retrieved 29 Apr,2010 from

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10639874

Isaac Davison (2010) Tragedy cuts short mother's plans for cycling adventure Retrieved 30 Apr,2010 from

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10640001

Isaac Davison (2010) iPod warning after cyclist killed in crash with train Retrieved 1 May,2010 from

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10639774