Y.O!

[Ed.'s notes: Olivia, our Y.O! blogger, discusses the dangers of something so close to many of our hearts, or more accurately, close to our ears - the ubiquitous mp3 player.]

The Straits Times recently reported a study on how teens in the Netherlands are aware, but still choose to remain nonchalant, about the risks of mp3 players. I feel that this scenario is often applicable to Singaporean teens too. Teenagers blasting music from their mp3 players are becoming commonplace in our society, and this trend has to be stemmed to prevent further damage to the general health of those responsible for our nation’s future.

One method may be to encourage the manufacturers to include prompts and signals within their gadgets to remind users of the most appropriate volumes to be used. Awards and even markings similar to the “Healthier Choice” tags on certain foodstuff may be the way to go to urge vendors towards responsible retailing.

Of course, educating parents and teachers on the harms of over-powering volumes from mp3 players, would be beneficial too. Ensuring that these teenagers are constantly reminded to check the volume of their handy gadgets would certainly have some bearing on altering their undesirable habits.

In short, the message is clear: turning a deaf ear to the warnings of the latent risks within mp3 gadgets would potentially lead to deafness.

Contributed by Ong Xiu Hui Olivia, 18
Y.O! blogger

Thoughts expressed in the post are those of the author. NLB does not necessarily share or endorse the views of contributing writers. Minimal editing has been done to present the contribution in its original form as much as possible.

Agree or disagree with Olivia? Leave your comments or submit y.o!ur say to showteens@nlb.gov.sg

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