I just read
an article that made me do a double take.
The headline was:
“Your
Cell Phone Has 17 Times the Bacteria as a Public Restroom.”
As a
confirmed skeptic, this headline had me thinking.
Which restrooms
did they use to test? Whose cell phones
did they swab for bacteria? Who did this
study?
The first
two questions were not answered in the article.
The study according to this report was however, done by “EXPERTS.”
Obviously
the study is accurate. Experts say so,
and anyone who disputes experts is just anti-science! That is not me, I am a skeptic, but I have
always been pro-science. Science is
good. I like science.
So, as a pro-science
yet skeptical person, what am I to make of this article?
I can only
assume they took a fair distribution of cell phones to test, and they for sure
must have tested public restrooms in an assortment of fine restaurants and also
dirty spoon highway diners and gas stations.
I know from
simple observation and my own practice that most people only use their cell
phones to call or do research. They do
not wipe their backsides with their cell phones, they do not pick up after the
dog with their cell phones, their cell phones mostly just come in contact with
their own hands.
Most people
wash their hands a few times a day, and shower at least several times a week.
You would think their hands would be relatively bacteria free. And yet this study by EXPERTS has
determined that your cell phone is 17 times dirtier than a public
restaurant. Not just twice as dirty, mind
you, not 12 times dirtier, but 17 TIMES MORE BACTERIA ON YOU CELL PHONE THAN
IN A PUBLIC RESTROOM!!
Since I am
not anti-science, I can only reach one shocking conclusion. A realization that I would have never thought
in a million years.
Public
restrooms must be really feckin clean!
Thank you
experts, now I will not worry as much as I used to when in a public
restroom. Wash my hands after using the
restroom?
Why
bother?
The damn
place is 17 times cleaner than my cell phone!
Haha! I usually just side with the experts, but if I was forced to get locked up in a public restroom overnight or a room with my cellphone... it seems like a no brainer :)
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that my phone is cleaner than most public restrooms and no I am not going to put my ear on the toilet seat in any public restroom. Just not my style. ;-)
ReplyDeleteOne of my old bosses used to say that "Ex is a has-been, and a spurt is a drip under pressure."
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, experts know a lot about what they know, but they can be incredibly dumb when they talk about anything else. . .
I’m not an expert on cleanliness but I think I know bull pucky when I see it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. There may be some validity to this. I can't remember the last time I wiped my cell phone down.......off to do that now. However how they come up with the number 17 baffles me too.
ReplyDeletebetty
Well, I have never seen a lump of excrement on my cell phone, but I HAVE seen one on the floor of a public restroom. I'm no expert, but I'm going to declare that your cell phone has 100% less lumps of excrement on it than a public restroom. I can't speak on the cleanliness factor. That restroom might have been otherwise sterile, suitable for performing surgery, as long as you didn't let the a patient with an open incision fall onto that one lump...
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they came to that conclusion simply because of the sheer numbers of people who are constantly phoning, texting, playing games all day and half the night, never looking up, texting with one hand while eating with the other and so on. And then maybe those people don't think to clean their phones.
ReplyDeleteWell, if the experts think I'm going to toss my phone in the washing up water they've got another think coming... lol.
ReplyDeleteOn this one EXPERTS ARE RIGHT. Did you know for instance there is more bacteria and germs on our hands than there is on a bathroom door handle? That is even if someone before you has gone to the toilet and not washed their hands. They meet you, shake hands, and pass on all their germs on to your hand which you pass on to the next person you shake hands with.
ReplyDeleteAn EXPERT scientist friend of mine says the germs eventually die on a cold door handle; but remain alive and multiply on warm hands. So we pass them on to each other when we shake hands, or pick our noses. That is why he suggests we don't shake hands any more, but we shake door handles instead. Each one of us should carry a door handle in our pocket and when we meet someone, we pull out our handles, and shake them with each other as a greeting.
God bless.
Experts claim your kitchen sink is dirtier than your toilet, too. Maybe this means salmonella is worse than E. coli?
ReplyDeleteI use Clorox wipes on my phone a few times a month, so I'm not concerned.
I probably wash my hands 17 times more than anyone and I don't take my phone in the bathroom if at all possible. I also wipe my phone with alcohol.. rubbing, not drinking... daily. Working in surgery and now this virus has me becoming OCD! Are we blaming Covid 19 on our cell phones? No more blaming anything on a toilet seat? It truly is the end of the world! Stay safe!
ReplyDeleteFor once I am happy I don't have a smart phone that is used all day long. I have no cell service here so I only carry a flip phone for emergencies when traveling. Can't remember the last time I used it. Now I understand my remote is pretty nasty so I give it, my mouse and keyboard a bit of a wipe down every now and then though now with incessant washing of hands that is probably over kill.
ReplyDeleteI think you better not look up articles on the cleanliness of our tooth brushes.......ewwwww
ReplyDeleteHahahaha, GROSS! After all of this is over, most people will be germaphobes with all the information that is coming out. Just YUCK.
ReplyDeleteEh, the dirty little secret to that supposed study is that it tested for bacteria .... period. They didn't take the time to classify bacteria according to its relative infectatory (made that up, ain't English awesome?) potential. That is, they didn't discriminate between good, bad, and neutral bacteria.
ReplyDeleteOh, and that 17 times? That's based on a single-site sampling, not on total environmental bacteria presence. That is, there's a TON more surface and contact points in a restroom than the single point sample they took.
But they're the experts, so who am I to question?? ;-)
Hi, I found you at DougM's blog. You sure do have a great sense of humor, something very much needed right now. Aloha from Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteEvery item is only as clean as the last time i was cleaned. Clean your phone regularly, and it won't be germy.
ReplyDeletethis is truly shocking reality to learn dear Joe
ReplyDeletethat is seriously worrying and just like you therefore i like and respect Science because they reveal truth and share without influence of politics ( well i hope so)