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Your Cell Phone is Dirtier Than a Toilet Handle

- By - Source : Tom's Guide US

Have you ever taken your cell phone with you to the bathroom? Of course you have. Who hasn't?

Would you rub your face up against the toilet flush handle of a men's public washroom? No, I wouldn't either – but every day we do something worse; we use our cell phones.

According to tests, the average mobile phone carries 18 times more potentially harmful bacteria that a toilet handle.

Hygiene expert Jim Francis took a sample of 30 phones and found that nearly a quarter of them had up to 10 times the acceptable TVC (Total Viable Count) bacteria. One of the phones was infested enough to give a user a serious stomach problem.

'The levels of potentially harmful bacteria on one mobile were off the scale. That phone needs sterilizing," said Francis.

The dirtiest phone had 39 times the safe level of enterobacteria and 170 times the acceptable level of fecal coliforms (which comes from poop). Just try to keep that in mind the next time you're handling someone else's cell phone to read an email or look at photos.

Given how often that we handle our cell phones, regardless of the state that they're in, it shouldn't be surprising to hear how infested they are with germs. We may be conscientious about washing our hands, but maybe it's time to start wiping down our phones too just as often.

(Source: Daily Mail.)

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arterius2 08/05/2010 12:13 PM
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this is not because cellphones are dirty, its because the people handling them are. well most people are dirty IMO, they don't care about personal hygienes, like taking a shower before going to sleep, or taking the shoes off before entering the house etc. with that said, i keep my cellphone in a nice carrying pouch, wipe it down once a while, had it for over a year and it looks like new.

Silmarunya 08/05/2010 12:17 PM
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arterius2 :
this is not because cellphones are dirty, its because the people handling them are. well most people are dirty IMO, they don't care about personal hygienes, like taking a shower before going to sleep, or taking the shoes off before entering the house etc. with that said, i keep my cellphone in a nice carrying pouch, wipe it down once a while, had it for over a year and it looks like new.



There is absolutely no relation between looking clean and new and actually being free of harmful bacteria. Wiping it down doesn't help at all against bacteria, unless you'd make the cloth wet with alcohol or other antibacterial fluids, and even then it'd be only a partial solution.

Face it, phones are dirty things (just like keyboards, which actually lead the list of most dangerous parts of your house). Too bad they're too much fun to ignore :)

anamaniac 08/05/2010 12:19 PM
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I used to work with waste management. I phone fell into garbage a few times. I've never cleaned it (except for oils off the LCD).

My keyboard is likely far worse though (several roomies that use it). I use to clean my old keyboard often, but my new keyboard takes a while to disassemble, so I don't anymore.

Chris_TC 08/05/2010 12:33 PM
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Mythbusters found that out years ago.

bhaberle 08/05/2010 12:50 PM
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anamaniac :
I used to work with waste management. I phone fell into garbage a few times. I've never cleaned it (except for oils off the LCD).My keyboard is likely far worse though (several roomies that use it). I use to clean my old keyboard often, but my new keyboard takes a while to disassemble, so I don't anymore.



Yeah I bet keyboards are worse. Would be an interesting test. Same with console controllers.

shanky887614 08/05/2010 1:03 PM
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i would clean my phone but unlike old nokia you cant take the case of

you can only remove the backplate with out special safty bit

instead of spending ages cleaning keyboard just spray on detol or something and leave to dry, simple

its not thororer but will get into all the nooks and cranies

no one is clean

google bactieria on human bodies
we are all coverd in microscopic bactirer and we will never stop it becasue own bodies contain and excete (through pours and things) bactertia because what are enzimes other than bacteria

borandi 08/05/2010 1:26 PM
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Source: Daily Mail

That newspaper is never the voice of reason. Over the past ten years, they have declared EVERYTHING causes cancer.

Silmarunya 08/05/2010 1:31 PM
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shanky887614 :
i would clean my phone but unlike old nokia you cant take the case ofyou can only remove the backplate with out special safty bitinstead of spending ages cleaning keyboard just spray on detol or something and leave to dry, simpleits not thororer but will get into all the nooks and craniesno one is cleangoogle bactieria on human bodieswe are all coverd in microscopic bactirer and we will never stop it becasue own bodies contain and excete (through pours and things) bactertia because what are enzimes other than bacteria



Most of the bacteria living on your skin (and inside your gut and pretty much everywhere in our body outside of the bloodstream) are beneficial bacteria. Skin bacteria eat our dead skin cells and fight off fungus in return. Bacteria in our bowels produce vitamins and help digesting our food in exchange for a small part of our food intake. In fact, there are more bacteria than human cells in our body.

So actually, we are clean, as in a normal human being the vast majority of bacteria are good, even required for our survival.

Phones and keyboards on the other hands, don't have an immune system and a host of good bacteria to fight off the bad guys, so these are actually filthy.

Silmarunya 08/05/2010 1:32 PM
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JPForums 08/05/2010 1:51 PM
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Quote :Face it, phones are dirty things (just like keyboards, which actually lead the list of most dangerous parts of your house). Too bad they're too much fun to ignore


The dirtiest things we come in contact with are the things we come in contact with the most. Things that are too fun to ignore top the list.

Fetal 08/05/2010 1:56 PM
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shaun_shaun 08/05/2010 2:00 PM
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well.. ur girlfriend must have more harmful bacteria than ur phone ... I m just saying ... LOL !!!!

insider3 08/05/2010 2:05 PM
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Quote :Would you rub your face up against the toilet flush handle of a men's public washroom?


Yes.

sevyr 08/05/2010 2:25 PM
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Just wash your hands before you eat. And don't rub a phone all over your face ;)
Rubbing your face all over the toilet flush handle of a men's public washroom is fine tho ;o

sirmorluk 08/05/2010 2:25 PM
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This is why I do not use cellphones or toilets.

jojesa 08/05/2010 2:33 PM
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Quote :According to tests, the average mobile phone carries 18 times more potentially harmful bacteria that a toilet handle.

So does our elbows and hands but most of that bacteria it supposed to be there in the first place to protect us from even more harmful pathogens.
Maybe cellphone manufacturers could start using antimicrobial technology like Logitech has used on some of their products.

Silmarunya 08/05/2010 2:34 PM
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shaun_shaun :
well.. ur girlfriend must have more harmful bacteria than ur phone ... I m just saying ... LOL !!!!



Assuming your girlfriend is a healthy woman with a normal immune system (and I honestly hope so), she'd have very few harmful bacteria, but a ton of healthy one. Not all bacteria are bad, remember?

Silmarunya 08/05/2010 2:36 PM
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jojesa :
So does our elbows and hands but most of that bacteria it supposed to be there in the first place to protect us from even more harmful pathogens.Maybe cellphone manufacturers could start using antimicrobial technology like Logitech has used on some of their products.



A phone and a keyboard are used for long periods, sometimes years on end. I know very few antibacterial substances that last that long, aren't dangerous to human health and don't smell extremely foul. So I doubt these antibacterial properties are more than a marketing gimmick (except for those special ones used in hospitals for example, but many of these require maintenance)

LordConrad 08/05/2010 3:08 PM
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Umm... EEWWW!

silentx 08/05/2010 3:14 PM
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sooo... how many people do actually get sick from their phones?.. i mean, why should we sterilize our phones, why prevent a problem that doesnt exist

del35 08/05/2010 3:33 PM
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With so vast a number of trendy people these days opting to lick their fingers rather than using paper napkins, this is hardly a surprise. Honestly this trend ranks up there with the iCrapple fad as an indicator of rising mass stupidity.

bourgeoisdude 08/05/2010 3:39 PM
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The toilet handle analogy is always a stupid one. "Public washrooms" are cleaned every day, while cell phones are not. I've heard the same stupid comparison about keyboards, remote controls, and other electronic devices. If you're worried, just clean your cellphone.

dragunover 08/05/2010 3:47 PM
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Lol, yet I don't get sick when I do these things? Maybe if people turn their blood pressure down from 150+ and learn to just accept bacteria for what they are then you'll stop having health issues.

prrrowr 08/05/2010 3:47 PM
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That alnost like saying I carry a lob of manure (okay, worse than manure)in my pocket and use it all the time to call my friends!

kawininjazx 08/05/2010 3:55 PM
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I bet they aren't dirtier than the average door handle or light switch. I do wipe my iPhone down with 93% rubbing alcohol.

Camikazi 08/05/2010 3:57 PM
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Silmarunya :
Assuming your girlfriend is a healthy woman with a normal immune system (and I honestly hope so), she'd have very few harmful bacteria, but a ton of healthy one. Not all bacteria are bad, remember?


New pick up line? Hey baby let's go share some healthy bacteria *wink* :)

Silmarunya 08/05/2010 4:01 PM
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Here we go again... The ad spam returns...

neoverdugo 08/05/2010 4:03 PM
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You shouldn't be worried about it too much. The mythbusters already test the bacteria growth on cellphones and compare it with toilet seats, keyboards, money and especially the kitchen sponge. Y'all should be worried with the sponge than you're dirty lil cellphone.
Adam: "Besides, what the heck is you're immune system for anyway?"

tu_illegalamigo 08/05/2010 4:13 PM
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Lame.

tommysch 08/05/2010 4:15 PM
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Seriously who cares about the whole bacteria are everywhere non sense. So what? They were always there. Its just fear mongering to sell more alcohol based products.

bildo123 08/05/2010 4:43 PM
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arterius2 :
this is not because cellphones are dirty, its because the people handling them are. well most people are dirty IMO, they don't care about personal hygienes, like taking a shower before going to sleep, or taking the shoes off before entering the house etc. with that said, i keep my cellphone in a nice carrying pouch, wipe it down once a while, had it for over a year and it looks like new.



I take a shower after waking up, gets that 8 hour sleep sweat/grease off and everything from the day before. Unless I workout or do something to get "extra" grimy. Then I'll shower the night before and rinse in the morning. Also, how did people get shit cells on their phone?