What’s the dirtiest thing in your house right now? Could it be your toilet seat, your kitchen work surface or maybe that old sock which fell down the space at the side of the bed about a year ago and which you then completely forgot about?
Actually, there is a good chance that the thing which contains most horrible bacteria is something which you touch and hold up to your face every day. No, it’s not your favourite old teddy bear which you just can’t seem to get rid of; it’s your filthy mobile phone.
Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat
That might seem a bit of a surprise at first but then you should consider when you last cleaned yours? What’s that? You’ve never cleaned it! You’re not alone in owning a filthy phone though, as a recent study showed that they could contain up to, gulp, 10 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. That’s right; the humble mobile phone has been outed as a potential bug carrier.
The problem is made worse when you are in the habit of passing your phone to your friends, as their bugs will soon make their way onto your phone when they use it. The research was carried out by Charles Gerba at the University of Arizona and if you are looking at your phone right now and feeling a bit queasy then you can thank Charles for bringing it to your attention.
The recommended approach to avoiding having a filthy phone is to give it a wipe with an antibacterial tissue every now and then.
