Your Phone Just Might Be The Grossest Thing In Your House

As parents we are hyper-aware of gems because we have germs magnets clinging to us all the damn time.

We know all too well how a case of the flu can rip through our house (a few times over), and we try and avoid it at all costs because we know the show must go on. Also, more often than not, moms are the ones who keep things moving and pick up the slack — especially if they are the one who was down and out for a week.

If someone in our home is sick, we go right for all the obvious places. We wash the towels, the sheets, we scrub the bathroom and kitchens because that is where all the germs like to hide out and play.

But you may be forgetting the biggest offender of all — your cell phone.

In fact, according The New York Post, a study conducted by Initial Washroom Hygiene found our cellphones are seven times dirtier than a toilet seat.

You bet your ass you wouldn’t put your face to a toilet seat, touch one, or scroll a toilet while you were sharing a plate of pot stickers, would ya?

But here we are swiping, googling, and liking while we are eating, taking our kids’ temperature, feeding them, or giving them Baby Tylenol.

If that’s not a wake-up call to clean our damn phones regularly, I don’t know what is.

The study took swabs from toilets and “showed bacteria on around 220 areas around the seat,” reports The New York Post.

But that doesn’t compare to what’s on your phone: After swabs of mobile phones were taken, the study found “a disgusting 1,479 such spots” on the average phone.

Wowzers.

Experts say this is because we take our cellphone into the loo with us. I know, I know, it’s hard to take a poo without it, but Professor Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen says, “Swabbing a smartphone is almost like checking your handkerchief for germs.”

And to my knowledge no one actually uses a smartphone as a tissue unless they are under 3.

We love our phones, I know. To many of us, our life might stop if it wasn’t within reach. And yes, I am one of those people. We contact our loved ones with our phone, many of us need it for work, and let’s face it, scrolling can be a great way to pass the time.

But these suckers are dirty, can spread germs, and even cause acne. According to Dr. Shirin Lakhani from Elite Aesthetics, “Our smartphones are a really big source of skin contamination and skin problems, namely acne.”

No, you don’t have to give your smartphone up as your favorite time-suck, laxative, means of communicating, or work device. A simple solution is to clean it with an alcohol wipe a few times a day.

Make sure to give the home button, lock button, and the back of the handset an extra swipe, as those were found to have the most bacteria.

Then, you can carry on with your life knowing you aren’t spreading germs with something that makes your toilet seat look squeaky clean.