Say you're walking down Grand River Avenue listening to your iPod with those little white earbuds burrowed inside of your delicate ears.

Sure, there are warnings of permanent ear damage, but people couldn't possibly use regular earphones, even though they might be more comfortable or convenient.

Without the trendy white earphones, how would anyone know you had an iPod?

A recent study concluded that prolonged use of small earbud headphones can cause hearing damage.

Just like the "coolness" of traipsing around with a bronze tan, taking a long puff of a cigarette or clutching that venti-sized Starbucks coffee, people don't care about ear damage, skin or lung cancer and stunted growth — as long as they look amazingly stylish in the process of acquiring these health complications.

When the effects aren't readily apparent and are too far off to think about, people convince themselves it's all OK, for now. It's a fact that tanning can cause cancer — there are many cases to prove this theory — yet people still lie out during the summer and frequent tanning booths during the winter in an effort to achieve that luminous glow as seen on the covers of fashion magazines.

Fine. People don't want to be lectured. We get it.

All that can be done is to explain the hazards and then let you make your own mistakes.

For those who aren't aware: McDonald's french fries, which are drenched in oily fat, are not good for you. They can result in obesity and heart problems.

For the teenagers who are going to one day wake up and see that their soft, tanned skin has turned wrinkly and leathery: Tanning causes cancer. If that doesn't get them, maybe getting wrinkles will.

For the coffee addicts: Coffee is hot and can burn and blister when haphazardly consumed.

For everyone who simply cannot do without those tiny iPod earbuds: Using earbuds might increase permanent hearing damage.

There. Now you know. And since people are made aware of the consequences (and those who are not should be), don't go and try suing McDonald's, Apple, Starbucks, Marlboro, the sun (good luck with that) or any tanning booth company when these health complications set in.

That's all we're saying. We don't care if you decide to ruin your health. After all, what you do with your body is your business. We just don't want to hear your complaints 40 years from now.

If we keep using earbuds, we might not be able to.