It’s probably not something you want to think about, but what do you think is the dirtiest thing you touch every day? If you commute via subway, you might suspect a stairwell handle or train pole as the most likely culprit. If you go from your house to your car to an office, maybe it’s the elevator button or the key fob you have to dig out of your bag. All very good guesses–you might even be tempted to pull out your phone and look up the correct answer.
And there we have it.
“It might surprise people, but the dirtiest thing they encounter every day is their own cellphone,” says Caitlin Mangan, a Lab Manager for Gillson Sciences. “People take them everywhere with them, including the bathroom. They are touched thousands of times a day, without people cleaning them or washing their hands in between tasks.”
The University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation puts it this way: Your cellphone is 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat. Yeah, that’s pretty gross.
The frequency of contact contributes to that grossness. The study shows that, on average, people check their phones 47 times a day. And like your clothing and shoes, you carry your beloved phone through various environments of differing cleanliness levels. In fact, that subway pole may actually be cleaner than your iPhone.
“It depends on how often the areas are cleaned,” says Mangan. “For example, an office building door handle typically has less people touching it day-to-day, but because of that it might not be cleaned as frequently and therefore has a high risk of having germs. Whereas a subway pole that is cleaned daily and properly sanitized will have less germs to transfer.”
Cellphones have been known to carry skin bacteria like Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, as well as fecal bacteria like E. coli and Enterococcus faecalis. These bacteria can cause skin infections, strep throat, or gastrointestinal illnesses producing nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. You can help yourself by avoiding using your phone in the restroom, not placing it down on surfaces where germs likely lurk, and when speaking into it, not letting it touch your cheek or mouth.
Of course, you should also clean your phone with paper towels, alcohol, and cotton swabs whenever possible and follow the number one rule of germ spread prevention: Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly.
