Qtips? Why do we still use them?

Because it's much more hygienic to clear your ears with a q-tip than with your little finger, which has dirt, bacteria, and other crap underneath your nails.

Sure, earwax is there to prevent infection and keep pathogens out, but too much is a nuisance, and can cause mechanical hearing loss in extreme cases (this actually happened to me after a bone tumor grew inside my ear canal; wax and crap got clumped behind the growth, result in, essentially, a home-grown hearing plug).