728x90
my iParenting
From Our Sponsors
e-newsletters
Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters

new terms of use
new privacy policy
award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Home › Articles › Recreation/Entertainment › Preteens and MP3 Players

Preteens and MP3 Players

The Good, the Bad and the Noisy

By Teri Brown

Pages:  1  2  3  

Most of today's parents understand the MP3 player revolution. Remember the boom boxes of the '80s? Remember how excited everyone was when the Walkman came out? It isn't that much of a stretch to appreciate the fascination our teens are experiencing with the MP3 players. Of course, what teens want and have soon carries over to preteens.

Cathy Shouse of Fairmount, Ind., gave her son an iPod shuffle when he was 11 years old. There are few incidents with it, because Shouse, having heard of problems other parents had, set ground rules. "One of my concerns is that the volume be at an appropriate level," she says. "He seems to understand that setting it too loud is bad for his ears. The issue of taking it to school has come up, too. It's an expensive item for a child who is juggling a lot of new responsibilities with starting junior high."

Another issue that recently came up is song content. "Another iPod rule I'm working on is that I need to screen the songs he puts on there," Shouse says. "For example, I don't think the language in Green Day songs is appropriate and won't let him buy the CD when we go to the store. But since he's finding his own songs and downloading them himself from the Internet for the iPod, I need to discuss his choices."

Hearing Health
Dr. Mike Bradley, a clinical psychologist specializing in adolescence and the author of The Heart and Soul of the Next Generation: Extraordinary Stories of Ordinary Teens (Harbor Press Publishing, 2006), says that hearing damage is a very real possibility. "There is a growing body of literature that suggests there is specific hearing damage in those who listen to music through earphones or ear buds," he says. "The physical damage comes from not only the concentration of the sound, but the duration, as well. Rock concerts are loud, but only for a couple of hours. Many kids have their iPods or MP3 players on for hours and hours at a time."

Another concern is the desensitization to volume. "The mind gets used to a certain volume, and it doesn't seem as loud," he says. "It isn't the ear that needs it louder but the brain that wants it turned up. So a child can be doing damage to their hearing and still be turning up the volume."

Pages:  1  2  3  


Want to see more?