My Cell Phone Has More Than 1,000,000 Germs Living On It Right Now
“Cell phones carry up to 25 times more bacteria than most toilet seats. So, when was the last time you cleaned your cell phone?” asked Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona.
In fact, it’s not about where our phones have been as much as where our hands have been. Our hands are the filthy problem and the culprit in how we transfer bad germs from one surface to another. According to the statistical giant Deloitte, the average American views their cellphone more than ever before, an average of 52 times per day. Every time we pick up our cell phones we add an occurrence of biological transmission between our hands and our cell phones.
“Because people are always carrying their cell phones, even in situations where they would normally wash their hands before doing anything, cell phones do tend to get pretty gross,” says IHPI member Emily Martin, assistant professor of epidemiology at University of Michigan School of Public Health**.
Cell phones are perfect breeding grounds for bacteria growth. Cell phones are warm and full of oily nourishment for the bacteria to consume.
Many of the 25,000+ bacteria found living per each square inch of a cell phones real estate should concern you. By my calculations, that’s over 1,000,000 bacteria on my personal cell phone.
“We’re not walking through a sterile environment, so if you touch a surface there could be something on that,” says Susan Whittier, Director of Clinical Microbiology at New York-Presbyterian and Columbia University Medical Center. “There are lots of environmental contaminants.”
There are many ways to cross contaminate your cell phone during the course of your day. The best advice has more to do with your habits than the phone or what you touch.
So how do we handle all of this bacterial buildup?
- The bathroom is not a good atmosphere for our phones.
- Wash hands before handling your device or at least use a probiotic hand gel.
- Use gadget-friendly cleaner like the Kalos external probiotic misting wand to keep your favorite handhelds tidy.
Protekt probiotic products- Our solutions ARE the solution.
Follow your own endless investigation down Google Scholar by following this link: Cell Phone Bacterial Contamination, or check out Buzzfeed’s super gross report here: Worse Than We Thought.