That's why you shouldn't take your smartphone with you to the toilet

Many people now also use their smartphones Toilet. However, according to experts, this is not particularly advisable. We'll explain to you why you shouldn't take your cell phone with you to the toilet.

The smartphone is now part of almost all activities of the day – even on the toilet. Many people use these “free” minutes to check the news or watch short videos. While most people think nothing of it, hygiene experts are sounding the alarm. Because: Smartphones are real bacteria carriers.

Bacteria-slinging smartphone: That's why you shouldn't take it with you to the toilet

This is mainly because many users don't clean their mobile devices as often as they probably should. For example, a study from Great Britain found that more than a third of Brits never clean their smartphones. Only one in 20 users disinfect their phone every six months or less.

It seems to be unclear how high the number of yeasts, bacteria and molds are that adhere to the devices. To better understand the whole thing, the experts carried out a test. They compared three common cell phones with a toilet seat and toilet flusher, as well as an office keyboard and a computer mouse.

Smartphones have more bacteria than a toilet seat

The results are rather worrying: the toilet seat and the toilet flush had lower amounts of bacteria than two of the smartphones tested. The screens were even ten times more infected. All three cell phones were also comparatively dirtier than the office keyboard and mouse.

“Since the average person touches their phone 3,000 times a day, one can imagine that all of these bacteria, yeast and molds are transferred from their phone to their face, mouth and food,” the analysts said. That is a scary thought.

That's why you shouldn't take your smartphone with you to the toilet

So while a toilet seat is cleaner than a smartphone, there is another problem in the bathroom. Constanze Wendt, a specialist in hygiene and microbiology from the Medical Care Center in Heidelberg, reported in an interview that a lot of water and dirt particles are floating around and spreading around in the air in bathrooms.

These include germs and bacteria from our intestines – and they also settle on our smartphones. Every time we touch the screen, we are directly touching a pool of bacteria. This could include E.coli, for example. While these bacteria are part of the intestinal flora, they can be dangerous in other parts of the body. They are often the cause of infectious diseases.

This is how you clean your smartphone properly

Simply washing your hands is not enough to protect yourself from germs and bacteria. Users should also clean their smartphone at least once a week. To do this, you can wipe the device with an alcohol wipe. Alternatively, you can use a lint-free cloth that you first spray with a diluted alcohol solution.

You can also buy appropriate screen cleaners or alcohol-based disinfectants. Important: Smartphone displays are particularly sensitive and should therefore never come into contact with aggressive cleaning agents such as glass or window cleaners.

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