In a rather unusual and unfortunate turn of events, a man enjoying virtual reality at a restaurant accidentally hit his 6-year-old son with the controller, leading to a hospital visit due to a cut on the boy’s eyebrow. Meanwhile, a 21-year-old on an airplane faced an unexpected whack on the head from a laptop tumbling out of the overhead bin. Another case involved a 39-year-old who lodged the rubber tip of an earbud in his ear and unsuccessfully attempted to extricate it with a screwdriver. And of course, we can’t forget the many hoverboard enthusiasts who have ended up with bruises and bumps from falls.
While these gadgets and gizmos can be a source of entertainment and convenience, they also result in numerous injuries each year. In an effort to explore the risks these devices pose, Gizmodo analyzed tech-related injuries from 2023 using data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). This database details emergency room visits at a selection of hospitals and links incidents to various consumer products.
Gizmodo’s analysis focused on injuries attributed to popular tech gadgets like cell phones, drones, gaming headsets, hoverboards, tablets, and virtual reality headsets. Although NEISS’s broader data offers national estimates on hospitalizations due to consumer products, our dive into specific categories reveals a more anecdotal perspective on how these beloved technologies can go awry.
Focusing on video games, our analysis shows a curious pattern: players of traditional video games tend to deliberately hit inanimate objects, while virtual reality gamers accidentally hit people. According to NEISS data, more than 64 percent of VR-related hospital visits resulted from unintentional punches—gamers inadvertently struck their moms, their kids, and one unfortunate 12-year-old even managed to punch himself in a sensitive area.
On the flip side, angry outbursts led to only 5 percent of injuries related to non-VR video games. These incidents often involved poor choices in punching targets, like glass tables or windows. A significant portion of emergency room visits from non-VR gaming—25 percent—were due to seizures or losing consciousness. Another 13 percent were tied to issues like carpal tunnel and neck pain from prolonged gaming or repetitive motions. Interestingly, these kinds of afflictions didn’t show up among VR-specific injuries, which were mostly due to players colliding with things or sustaining injuries from headsets.
In the hoverboard vs. drone scenario, hoverboards came out as the bigger culprits for emergency visits from the NEISS data. Users crashed into furniture and tumbled onto various body parts—especially wrists and heads. Thankfully, there were no reports of them spontaneously igniting in 2023. On the other hand, drones surprisingly accounted for only a handful of incidents—just nine—raising eyebrows over this notably low number.
When it comes to headphones, over-ear advocates might feel validated—those seem to be safer than earbuds. More than 70 percent of ER visits related to headphones were due to earbud tips getting lodged in users’ ears. It’s not wise to fall asleep wearing them or use foreign objects to attempt retrieval of stuck tips. Wired earbuds can introduce other risks, as one 44-year-old discovered when her headphones snagged on an item, scalding her hands while she carried boiling water.
Here’s the deal with vibrators: It turns out getting them stuck is less common than finding yourself with an earbud tip stuck where it shouldn’t be, according to the data.
Looking at cell phones, most injuries involve dropping them—on faces, toes, or even children, causing about 13 percent of ER trips in 2023. Another 12 percent stemmed from distracted stumbles, like stepping into potholes or walking into plaques while glued to the screen. Remarkably, a case involved a woman being zapped by lightning through her phone during a storm, leaving her body buzzing but thankfully unburned.
Turning to laptops and tablets, data indicates tablets caused 36 percent fewer ER visits compared to their heavier counterparts. Laptop mishaps often involved them crashing down onto someone’s head or feet, lending weight—quite literally—to the idea they’re more dangerous due to their bulk. Laptops falling from plane or bus compartments added further to the tally. But don’t mistake lighter for gentler; siblings have been known to “accidentally” toss tablets and phones at one another, leading to some unintended injuries.
