Is it safe to use earbuds during thunderstroms?

There are some people who grew up in the far distant past, when their own houses were not grounded. My mother was one of those, and just mindlessly repeated to me whatever her own mother had told her.

"Don't stand near open windows during a thunder and lightning storm."

"Never take a bath or a shower during a thunder and lightning storm."

"Don't watch television during a thunder and lightning storm."

"Turn off all appliances that are running during a thunder and lightning storm."

The things that were true before ground rods, grounding wires and grounding electrical plugs came into being are no longer true.

However, if you are driving and you hit a downed electrical wire during a lightning storm, the only way you will stay alive is to sit perfectly still and touch nothing inside the car.

Regarding what your elders told you, lighting actually could strike you if you are standing in an open metal screened doorway inside your house, (saw it on true stories of lightning strikes)...or if you stand under a tree in the rain...and then the lightning would pretty much have to hit you square on the head to fry you through the earbuds and headphones.

The Mythbusters did an episode where they tested if you're more likely to get hit with (artificial) lightning with a piercing, which is pretty similar in terms of the physics of it. They only found a difference when they stuck a doorknob in the ballistic gell test subject's cheek. So if your earbuds are smaller than a doorknob, you're probably fine.

Will you be wearing a lightening rod on your head?

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Simply being caught outside in a storm may be the bigger risk, vs. what you may be wearing in your ears. But no ideas.

You never can tell.
I was close enough to a strike to hear sizzling, and the crack of a whip first. Then see the flash. Unforcasted, from very light overcast on an otherwise pleasant day. It was less than 50ft away.


I've heard similar about talking on landlines, sitting by open windows, or taking a shower. Even that lightning follows drafts. Unsure how much of this parental wisdom holds up nowadays. Though, I try not to stand in a porch behind a thin aluminum screen door -- that may be asking for trouble, as folks have even been struck in their garage watching storms.

My elders once told me they knew someone who got hit by lightning while talking on the landline during thunderstorm.

It's probably not a good idea to be standing outdoors during a thunderstorm one way or the other but no, the likelihood of lightning striking only your earbuds is minimal, your entire body is more likely to be hit than just the earbuds. If your body is hit by lightening then yes, your earbuds would probably fry and could cause burns but there is so little metal in them that it wouldn't be much, the lightening would cause much more serious burns.

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I really don't think those have enough metal in them to attract lighting

No more dangerous than having your cell phone with you

Lolz

yes 🤣 no