Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Video Gaming a Lightning Magnet? One Researcher Thinks So

by Warren Riddle on June 22, 2009 at 09:20 AM


Well, the video game fear mongering continues. According to a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher, there has been an increase in instances of indoor gamers being injured by lightning strikes. Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, director of the university's lightning injury research program told UPI that in the case of a thunderstorm, "people need to stay off landlines, computers, and video games."

We all know about unplugging computers during storms, so Dr. Cooper's warning does carry some weight. But, we couldn't find enough occurrences to warrant a specific focus on video games. Actually, a quick Google search renders more cases of people being struck by lightning while talking on the phone (even mobiles) and doing laundry than being struck during gaming sessions.

According to the National Weather Service, 28 people died from lightning strikes in 2008, nearly half of them having been struck in open outdoor areas. While death is never a trivial matter, the odds of dying from lightning are 1 in 83,930, according to LiveScience.com. So, the threat is incredibly minimal. At the same time, it's still a good idea to disengage from any hard-wired appliances during a storm. [From: UPI]

Tags: health, lightning, top, video games, VideoGames

Comments

2

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular