Hi everyone,
I've been using Airpods for a year, probably 5-6 hours a day on average, I never used any bluetooth accessory before, always avoided them, but gave AirPods a chance, and it indeed cut my cable clutter a lot, and while it lasted, I did enjoy the practicality and the technology, it's indeed a marvel of a product - but the health aspect always worried me, especially because I used the tap gesture a lot
I've been experiencing some minor aching on my left ear for a while, it was a minor nuisance for months, like small surface aches, but last 2-3 weeks, it really became an issue, as holiday season is a busy time for me, I didn't pay much attention, but yesterday, I started worrying about it, I suspected it was because of tapping my left ear with the gesture, and stress related to that, but afterwards I googled "AirPods RF" and was terrified that AirPods were such high power devices, they seemingly don't use low power bluetooth, and finding out that even Apple is hiding the RF levels: https://www.apple.com/legal/rfexposure/ got me super worried - I also had one hair grew from my ear some time ago, like the ones really old people have, it fell after I played with it, it felt like a pimple, but it was an overgrown hair, I suspected it could have cause the original nuisance too, I also got a bit paranoid thinking I could have another hair growing inwards that's causing the new increasing pain
Anyway, I immediately went to the doctors today after all the google induced paranoia, I was expecting the doctor to tell me I was okay, but turns out I was not, the strain on my left ear was serious and could get much worse - so even though I'd prefer not to get medicated, I was prescribed high strength antibiotics, painkillers, and an eardrop - Doctor's theory was that it was because of the repeated mechanical and acoustic stress, and not RF - since it's only the left ear, I think it's probably not RF either, but after learning about the RF levels, and suspected health effects, I'm obviously not going to use the AirPods for listening to music, watching stuff etc. ever again, In 2-3 months, If I heal, I could maybe use it for the occasional calls, conferences etc.
So why am I sharing story? Well the lesson for me is to make my health a priority, I originally falsely assumed AirPods will be ok to use, trusted Apple to make sure a mass produced device would be harmless, but in hindsight, I feel very stupid for not making my health the first priority (I feel stupid because a company made me tap my ear repeatedly, I mean, what was I thinking?)
If you've read this far, my suggestion is to keep on using non-bluetooth devices for lengthy tasks like listening to music etc. - If you do use AirPods, consider not using the tap gestures - I'll personally use my speaker setup more, and will downgrade to corded earphones when my ear heals
Thanks for reading
Stay healthy,
Kaan
I've been using Airpods for a year, probably 5-6 hours a day on average, I never used any bluetooth accessory before, always avoided them, but gave AirPods a chance, and it indeed cut my cable clutter a lot, and while it lasted, I did enjoy the practicality and the technology, it's indeed a marvel of a product - but the health aspect always worried me, especially because I used the tap gesture a lot
I've been experiencing some minor aching on my left ear for a while, it was a minor nuisance for months, like small surface aches, but last 2-3 weeks, it really became an issue, as holiday season is a busy time for me, I didn't pay much attention, but yesterday, I started worrying about it, I suspected it was because of tapping my left ear with the gesture, and stress related to that, but afterwards I googled "AirPods RF" and was terrified that AirPods were such high power devices, they seemingly don't use low power bluetooth, and finding out that even Apple is hiding the RF levels: https://www.apple.com/legal/rfexposure/ got me super worried - I also had one hair grew from my ear some time ago, like the ones really old people have, it fell after I played with it, it felt like a pimple, but it was an overgrown hair, I suspected it could have cause the original nuisance too, I also got a bit paranoid thinking I could have another hair growing inwards that's causing the new increasing pain
Anyway, I immediately went to the doctors today after all the google induced paranoia, I was expecting the doctor to tell me I was okay, but turns out I was not, the strain on my left ear was serious and could get much worse - so even though I'd prefer not to get medicated, I was prescribed high strength antibiotics, painkillers, and an eardrop - Doctor's theory was that it was because of the repeated mechanical and acoustic stress, and not RF - since it's only the left ear, I think it's probably not RF either, but after learning about the RF levels, and suspected health effects, I'm obviously not going to use the AirPods for listening to music, watching stuff etc. ever again, In 2-3 months, If I heal, I could maybe use it for the occasional calls, conferences etc.
So why am I sharing story? Well the lesson for me is to make my health a priority, I originally falsely assumed AirPods will be ok to use, trusted Apple to make sure a mass produced device would be harmless, but in hindsight, I feel very stupid for not making my health the first priority (I feel stupid because a company made me tap my ear repeatedly, I mean, what was I thinking?)
If you've read this far, my suggestion is to keep on using non-bluetooth devices for lengthy tasks like listening to music etc. - If you do use AirPods, consider not using the tap gestures - I'll personally use my speaker setup more, and will downgrade to corded earphones when my ear heals
Thanks for reading
Stay healthy,
Kaan
