Picture this: a guy enjoying a sandwich at a restaurant while immersed in the virtual reality world, accidentally clobbers his 6-year-old son with a VR controller, and the next stop is the hospital for the kid’s eyebrow injury. Meanwhile, on a flight, a 21-year-old gets an unexpected bonk on the head from a laptop falling out of an overhead bin. And then there’s a hapless 39-year-old who somehow manages to lodge an earbud tip in his ear—and makes things worse by trying to dig it out with a screwdriver. Not to forget, hoverboard mishaps continue to be a classic case of technology-induced chaos.
Sure, our favorite gadgets and gizmos provide a ton of fun and convenience, but they also lead to a surprising number of injuries each year. Curious about the safety of these tech toys, Gizmodo took a deep dive into data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). This database keeps a close watch over emergency room visits across a selected number of hospitals, noting how consumer products are often the culprits behind these trips.
In our review, we scrutinized various gadgets causing ER visits—think cell phones, drones, headsets, headphones, hoverboards, tablets, vibrators, video games, and virtual reality headsets. While NEISS estimates the national scale of such hospitalizations, our deep dive into specific product categories offers more of a story-driven glimpse into the unexpected ways these technologies can cause harm.
Video games! Gizmodo’s analysis, admittedly a mix of science and humor, finds that traditional gamers sometimes vent frustration by punching things they shouldn’t, whereas VR gamers swing aimlessly, often hitting people by mistake. According to NEISS records, a significant chunk of VR gaming injuries—about 64%—stem from accidental punches. From unfortunate pats to self-inflicted nudges in delicate areas (like one unfortunate 12-year-old punching himself in a decidedly personal zone), the incidents are plenty.
On the flip side, non-VR gaming outbursts, like rage quits, contribute to only 5% of injuries, usually due to some ill-advised object hitting, like punching a window or banging a glass table. Then there are other types of video game-related ER visits: about 25% are due to serious health issues like seizures or loss of consciousness linked to marathon gaming sessions. Neck pain and vision problems account for another 13%, but these are noticeably absent in VR mishaps, which tend to be more about physical collisions and sore heads.
When it comes to hoverboards, these nifty devices lead the pack in causing visits to the ER. Riders often find themselves meeting hard surfaces head-on (hello, floors and furniture), particularly risking injuries to wrists and heads. Thankfully, 2023 data showed no spontaneously exploding hoverboards.
Drones, surprisingly, hover at the other end of the spectrum with a mere 9 recorded incidents—sounds almost too good to be true!
As for headphones, earbud users seem to bear the brunt more than their over-ear counterparts. Over 70% of headphone-related injuries come from the pesky plastic or rubber earbud tips getting stuck in ears. Clearly, jamming foreign objects into your ears to fish out a wedged earbud is a risk. Tangled cords can also spell trouble, like the unfortunate woman whose hands met a pot of boiling water due to a headphone cord mishap.
And vibrators? Let’s just say, getting them stuck seems less frequent compared to earbud tips, if NEISS data is anything to go by.
Cell phones, everyone’s trusty companion, pose certain risks. Dropping them leads to over 13% of ER incidents, often impacting faces, toes, or worse—small kids. Distractions lead to people meeting the ground, sometimes falling off bikes or stumbling into unnoticed obstacles, such as one person walking into a 9/11 memorial plaque. It’s a good reminder to avoid doom-scrolling down staircases. Broken screens, electrical shocks, and overheating also spice up phone-related injuries, alongside unique cases like lightning strikes turning a phone into a burst of energy in a woman’s hand during a storm.
Choosing between laptops and tablets? The data suggests tablets are a safer bet, causing 36% fewer ER trips compared to their heavier cousins. Laptops often take a tumble from above, leading to injuries when they crash onto heads or feet. Additionally, heavy laptops make awkward travel companions—5% of related ER incidents stem from them slipping out of overhead compartments while traveling.
But be cautious! Lighter gadgets can quickly become projectiles in a sibling showdown, and NEISS data confirms that tablets and phones often become tools for accidental sibling warfare.
