Shocking

Help me out here: am I cheap or does this happen to everyone?

I workout/run with my iPod.  For the past 3 years, my iPod has been my saving grace when it comes working out.  It almost makes working out, dare I say, not that bad. And yet, I've been having this problem: the earphones.

I switched out the original earbuds that came with the iPod because I felt like they kept slipping out of my ears. The type I prefer are the kind that go into your ear and have a hook that latches over your ear (looking like a hearing aid).  I will admit, I don't spend more than 15 bucks on these deals.

What happens is, after a number of months of use (less than 6) particularly when I am running, though eventually it's a matter of time when it's when I'm walking, and then just sitting, I get shocked.  In my ears.

I won't sugar coat it: it hurts.

To the spectator at the gym seeing me run, the scenario they witness is such:

Run, run, run, run, run, ...OW...run, run, OW!..run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, ruh-He-EY!!..FUCK ME, THAT HURTS.... run, run, run, run....

(along with a lot of ear touching, face contortions, and adjusting of the earphones)

If anyone is a Cheers fan, the whole thing starts to eerily take shape of one of my favorite episodes. You know the one where Cliff is trying to secretly rework his personality so that his friends like him more/find him less grating?   In that episode, he seeks out a "therapist" who is willing to go to the bar with him, and from across the room, send a shock signal to him every time he says something annoying.  The experiment starts out okay, but then the man shocks Cliff accidentally ("Hey! I didn't even say anything that time!") and this is where things begin to unravel for Cliff as starts to annoy the man holding button.   By the end, the shock man/"therapist"  can't stand Cliff, and chases him around the bar yelling (one of my favorite lines from television), "DANCE, MAILMAN!"

The mailman, he no like to dance.

Let me break it down:

So the thought of actually running without my music is actually so hee-deous an option (thinking, "What is this? The NINETEEN FIFTIEEEEES?" ), that I will continue to try to run while my ears are, you know, being electrocuted. Eventually due to the pain associated with being chronically zapped, I am forced "deal with it". Because the shocks comes at such random intervals, it's hard to say what's going on. And it's in the longer reprieves that suck you in and give way to hope that it's only temporary, that you have some control over it, and it'll go away.  Note to all: no, no you don't, and it never does.

Not that any of these answers ever stop me from trying. Oh no!  Yeah, I try out a few theories (all of which are PhD-level "or greater") in the hopes of circumventing these mini-electrocutions. First, I try to run LIGHTER (if that makes any sense, which on the one hand kind of does, on the other kind of makes me sound like a total moron), my thinking is that it's my clunky pounding on the 'mill that's the cause. This theory is usually blown to shit after about 30 seconds of pure, sparkriffic hell. Next, I begin to think that it is I that is holding some kind of surplus static charge (if you'll pardon the technical jargon), stop running, touch my hands to the sides of the machine (sometimes in the process shocking myself YET AGAIN), and then jump back on and continue running.  Naturally, this also highly regarded scientific theory is blown to smithereens as quickly as method one.  Lastly, I try the "well,...it isn't THAT bad", "Martyr-up" (TM),  and see how long I can suck up the Bic lighter flicks in my ear canal.  It's usually another 30 seconds until I exasperatedly rip the earphones out and throw them over the side of the machine, telepathically communicating (as I wouldn't want to make a scene), "I fucking HATE YOU!"

So, I am either cheap and just need to buy better quality earbud hooks, or I need to quit running and take up yoga. 

Comments

[Jess]

This happens to me when I use headphones that have any kind of exposed metal on them. You know, an extension or something like that. Do yours have something similiar?

[Graham]

Ok Jen, Im thinking that the thrifty gene is in overdrive here. Really, couldn't Santa have brought you another pair?? But in an effort to help out an old friend I did a Google (what else) of "electric shock from headphones in ear" and found out that NO you are not alone. And someone has found not only had a similar experience, but a frugal alternative. so follow this link to a fellow bloggers story and see if this helps.

http://blogs.ravasthi.name/prachee/2006/10/31/perfect-workout-headphones/

Mike

[Graham]

UPDATE: A Froogle search for the headphones also found them at J&R for $34.99. As I remember you have a birthday coming up. Maybe one of your blogger friends will get you some.

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product_Id=4111333&JRSource=googlebase.datafeed.SEN+MX75

Mike

[jen]

ooh, I can afford $35. thanks for the find.

[mamatulip]

I am dying here. I'm a HUGE Cheers fan and I know exactly which episode you're talking about. My god. The funny. It hurts.

I hate those fucking earbuds -- the ones for my Shuffle always feel like they're slipping out of my ears too (which always gets me wondering if I'm producing too much earwax and if I should investigate ear candling...), but if the shocked me? I'd be laying out the greenbacks to get a decent pair, pronto.

[Lena]

Stop it!! This happens?? How am I ever going to be able to run again?

[marnie]

I am an earbud lover. I have no problems with them. I do like those sweet green headphones.

I dropped a pair of earbuds in the bathtub and once they dried out they worked, but also gave me a jolt randomly. I'm sure I still have them, so if you are cheap, I am too.

[Ben]

Don't be so cheap - buy a good pair _once_ -- no more problems. I, with my over-engineering fetish, have the Bang & Olufson Earphones ( http://www.bang-olufsen.com/page.asp?id=46 ). They are stupid-expensive (thought half-price if you known anyone in Hong Kong), but 1) sound simply awesome for an open-ear earbud, with surprisingly good bass and 2) will _not_ come out of your ear until you want them two. A truly excellent design. You'll only need to buy one pair and they'll last a lifetime (unless, you know, you leave them in a cab, along with your AM Walkman, after listen to the Sox and spending too many hours at bar afterwards... I'm just saying...). You can also get the sound-isolating earphones, like the Shure EC4Es, but I wouldn't want to wear those while running -- you'd miss all the car horns that way.

[Ben]

God, I preview my comments and still screw up; that's "...will _not_ come out of your ear until you want them to."

[Abe Froman]

Okay, first off, "Dance Mailman" is just about one of the best television moments ever. EVER!

Secondly, I used to get zapped by my $15 (hearing aid-like) headphones when running on the elliptical dealy. I eventually determined that after running long enough and sweating, the sweat would hit some crappy connection on the crappy headphones and then zap me. Once it started, there was no stopping them from randomly zapping jolting you. The answer to the problem was a pair of slightly better $25 headphones.

[ozma]

So so funny. Ow.

[Amy]

uh. wow. but this is good. now you don't have to pay for electroshock therapy. Bonus!

[TB]

I've never heard of such a thing, but then again the fastest I run while wearing my headphones is to the Starbucks in the airport terminal.

Are your ears sweating? Could it be a moisture thing?

[john]

if you go for those ones on JR, you can be a complete Sennheiser snob, added bonus... but that green..

[john]

do a search on google for "dance mailman"

[jen]

JOhn- That totally makes my day! HA.

[lucy]

I get those shocks in my ears, too, when it's cold and dry and my hair brushes against them. I've tried more expensive headphones that don't stick out of the ear much and still had the same problem. I found that if I hold the ipod in my hand, it grounds it and I don't get the shocks in my ears. But, it isn't always convenient to hold. I tried the silicon covers, hoping that would ground it, but it didn't work.