EPtalk by Dr. Jayne 1/16/25

For many readers, CES will always be the Consumer Electronics Show in our heads, no matter what kind of branding updates the conference receives. It’s been on my bucket list for years, although I’ve never quite gotten around to attending.

Planning travel in January is always tricky for those of us who live in states where snow and ice happen. Had I planned to attend this year, it’s doubtful that I would have been able to get there due to snowpocalypse. Regardless, I’m still a fan, and get plenty of press releases related to the event. A couple of things caught my eye this year.

The first is robot vacuums and their continued evolution. Companies used CES to launch products that media folks are referring to as butlers since they have the ability to retrieve items. Roborock and Dreame have units with graspers that can pick up items so that they can vacuum, adding them to a bin for later human intervention. The former can pick up a 300-gram item, while the latter can lift up to 500 grams. This puts a lot of pet toys in the pickup range, so I can see the utility. Other units have been enhanced with capabilities that let them go up and down floor transitions, and apparently Samsung has one that can identify unexpected movement and notify the owner.

I also was drawn in by the press releases from Withings, which released its Omnia product at CES. The solution goes beyond the smart scale platform to incorporate a so-called smart mirror that can deliver health insights and wellness recommendations based on data from Withings devices and third-party apps. The Cardio Check-Up feature can enable reviews of heart-related data by cardiologists, although I’m sure any end user agreement will include plenty of disclaimers about this not being intended to form a physician-patient relationship. I’ve used a wi-fi enabled Withings blood pressure cuff for years, and not only is it accurate, it has outstanding battery life. I’m not quite ready for a smart scale or a smart mirror yet, unless the latter can help me apply eyeliner when I don’t have my contact lenses in.

HIMSS is emailing members to promote its new membership program, trying to convince us it brings value other than a discounted admission to the annual conference. It promises “tailored professional resources” and “expanded networking opportunities” in a vague and unenticing way. I’m sure some of us remember its ill-fated online engagement platform, which disappeared after fizzling in a noticeable way. The email urges recipients to stay tuned for more information, but honestly I’m not sure what is being offered that wasn’t already present.

I’m on a local committee to try to improve health outcomes for the young people in our community, so I was eager to read the most-viewed articles of 2024 list from JAMA Peds. I wasn’t surprised at all that some of the pieces that topped the list were tech related. These are the articles that pediatricians are reading the most, so if you have small children in your life (or care about the health outcomes of all small children), it’s good to take note. Here’s the highlight reel:

• “Screen Time and Parent-Child Talk When Children Are Aged 12 to 36 Months.” Validating what I see nearly every time I travel, the authors conclude that “screen time is a mechanism that may be getting in the way of children experiencing a language-rich home environment during the early years.” It doesn’t take a high-powered study to see that when parents are glued to their phones and their toddlers are glued to tablets, no one is having a conversation.
• “Early-Childhood Tablet Use and Outbursts of Anger.” Tablet use contributes to a cycle of frustration as “child tablet use at age 3.5 years was associated with more expressions of anger and frustration by the age of 4.5 years. Child proneness to anger / frustration at age 4.5 years was then associated with more use of tablets by age 5.5 years.” If you want your child to have greater skills for emotional regulation, tablets are not the way to go.
• “Early-Life Digital Media Experiences and Development of Atypical Sensory Processing.” Higher levels of early exposure to digital media correlate with “specific sensory-related behaviors, including those seen in autism spectrum disorder.” The authors propose additional research to understand why as well as to determine whether limiting media exposure can improve outcomes.

Lake Superior State University, which I’ll admit that I hadn’t heard of prior to this week, released its 2025 list of words that should be banished. Mr. H and I both have words that are on our pet peeve lists, and some of these are a definite overlap for me:

1. Cringe.
2. Game changer.
3. Era.
4. Dropped.
5. IYKYK (if you know, you know).
6. Sorry not sorry.
7. Skibidi.
8. 100%.
9. Utilize.
10. Period.

The list of words began in 1976 when the university’s public relations director and his team released its first “List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-Use, and General Uselessness.” The list’s popularity has grown and the University now receives suggestions from around the world. If you have a few minutes to visit the site, it’s worth your time since they provide specifics on why the words were included. Overuse is a prime reason.

For some of the words, alternatives are offered, reminding us that as our elementary school teachers always said, the thesaurus can be our friend. General annoyance was also cited several times, including for skibidi, and in that case, I wholeheartedly agree. The word utilize has long been on Mr. H’s pet peeve list, so I’m glad it was called out. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the list, so I can’t wait to see what makes the cut for such a momentous occasion. If you’ve got a word you want voted off the linguistic island, you can submit it here.

What are your top picks for words that are weak, pitiful, wretched, cheesy, uninspired, or warmed-over? Leave a comment or email me.

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