Have the sages and prophets of old not told you to refrain from sticking Q-Tips into your ears? Indeed, they have. But humankind is willful and foolish, and have continued to stick Q-Tips into their ears. Now we are reaping a whirlwind of ear infections and burst eardrums.
As Roberto Ferdman reports at The Washington Post, cleansing one’s ears with Q-Tips upsets a natural process in which the body produces wax to protect the delicate skin of the ear canal from infection and damage. Scouring the wax away, while addictively enjoyable, can damage the fragile bones of the inner-ear, rupture eardrums, and invite ear infections. And yet humanity persists in this white-tipped onslaught against their own ears, haughtily saying: If Q-Tips are not for cleaning your ears, then what are they for?
Look upon the box, ye mighty, and despair: Q-Tips are for applying and removing cosmetics, cleaning small electronics and minuscule household spaces, and administering first aid to sensitive areas. Cats are also really into them, apparently.