A few weeks ago there was a splash in the headlines regarding the Simcoe County school district.  Children with headaches, vertigo and nausea were causing concern among parents; and the parents were blaming the schools. Or at least the wifi that the school had decided to implement so they could have internet access in all classrooms.

Parents were blaming the “microwaves” in the wifi signal for causing illness in their children because… pseudo-science is fun?

So I found it particularly amusing when I saw this article in the New York Times.

For kids around the country it’s back-to-school time. But for many of them, it’s also the return of headache season.

Doctors say frequent headaches and migraines are among the most common childhood health complaints, [...]

Vertigo, nausea, stomach aches and headache are all symptoms of childhood migraine and also happen to coincide with the symptoms of the children whose parents rushed to blame wifi in the schools.  Of course childhood migraines are not caused by wifi:

Often the real issue, say doctors, is that changes in a child’s sleep schedule, including getting up early for school and staying up late to study, as well as skipping breakfast, not drinking enough water and weather changes can all trigger migraines when the school year starts.

This wasn’t a difficult thing to find out or understand, searching for child + headache? It comes up on the first page of Google for crying out loud. Headaches caused by wifi? No where to be seen in the search results.

The answer is right there. It’s almost a testament to the effort people will go to, just to place themselves under some woo.