Why you shouldn’t take this everyday item into the bathroom with you, otherwise it could turn into a virus carrier…
Let’s be honest and be honest: Have you ever thought about the risk of viruses if you take your cell phone into the bathroom? If not, then after this article you might rethink your routines and question whether you play the feel-good music on your smartphone in the bathroom while showering or check the latest Instagram posts and WhatsApp messages while sitting on the toilet .
What is now commonplace and completely normal for many people is, however, not optimal, according to hygiene experts. Apparently many people tend to take their cell phones with them to the toilet. A 2022 survey by cybersecurity company “NordVPN” on smartphone use in the toilet showed that over 37 percent of Germans use the time on the toilet to surf social media, while over a third read work emails and chats.
Virus risk in the quiet place!
It should actually be completely clear that the bathroom is teeming with bacteria and germs. Because: They spread particularly easily in high humidity or in damp towels. Logical! And yet we tend to use our smartphones calmly without any ulterior motives.
Conztanze Wendt, a specialist in hygiene and microbiology from the “Medical Care Center Heidelberg” explains to “techbook.de” that our bathroom contains mainly the germs and bacteria that are in our intestines and on our skin – for example the so-called intestinal bacteria E.coli. If the smartphone is in the bathroom, just a quick tap on the display is enough to send the bacteria directly onto the device. Not a nice idea when you think about it.
Not life-threatening, but disgusting
However, according to hygiene expert Wendt, there is no huge danger if bacteria settle on the surface of the device because they do not have to be harmful to health per se. But it is good to be aware that the bacteria exist on the smartphone display and how they get there. Anyone who then picks up their cell phone and uses it again may absorb the bacteria through their skin – these can then spread unhindered throughout the body.
The good news: At least the risk of germs at home shouldn’t be extremely great – and shouldn’t be significantly greater in public toilets either! However, people with a weak immune system should be careful because you could catch nasty intestinal bacteria really quickly. However, where we all have cell phones under no circumstances take it with you to the toilet should, is in the hospital. Great caution should be exercised here as this could have serious health consequences for the body. “There can be resistant germs in hospitals,” said the expert. These are resistant to most antibiotics – making an infection more difficult to treat.
Please don’t forget to wash your hands thoroughly!
Either way, whether with or without a smartphone in the bathroom – washing your hands thoroughly is the best solution for everyone who doesn’t want to have germs and bacteria on their hands (and especially not on their cell phone!). It is also advisable to disinfect the device at regular intervals. This means there is definitely no disgust factor when reading the digital newspaper in the toilet!
Danger! Be even more careful in this room!
By the way, there is another place where cell phone use is discouraged. And in the kitchen! Countless bacteria live on surfaces there. According to Markus Egert, professor of microbiology and hygiene at Furtwangen University, the use of smartphones in the kitchen is even more critical than in the toilet.
For example, if you cut meat and keep clicking on the recipe video on your cell phone or listen to music and keep pressing a song, you would spread much worse bacteria on the screen. “There are millions to billions of germs per cubic centimeter on such a piece of meat,” warns the expert. He explains to “hna.de” that people often don’t think carefully about hygiene in the kitchen and this results in a greater lack of hygiene than in the bathroom. The finger that was previously on the screen is quickly put in the mouth to taste…
Sources used: merkur.de, techbook.de, nordvpn, hna.de