What is phone hygiene and how does it affect us?
Our phones have become such an integral part of our lives that we use it almost everywhere we go and in whatever we are doing. We use it while traveling, while lying in bed, while eating food and even while we are in the restroom. During our daily activities, our hands come in contact with many things that have germs and we use our phones with same hands itself. Over the course of time these germs do get accumulated on our phones as well and even if we wash our hands, holding our phones can negate the effect based on how germ infested your phone is. This is why phone hygiene plays a very important part in our health. If your phone was used by someone who is probably sick or carrying a disease that is transmitted by touch and you use the phone after wards, it is possible for you to be affected by it as well.
How does it happen?
All these accumulated germs on your phone means that it is quite unhygienic. In fact research shows us that most phones are as unhealthy as public toilets. This is true even for people who wash their hands after they go to the restroom. The currency you exchange, people you shake hands with, the surfaces you touch or hold etc all carry germs of some kind or the other and because of the way we use our phones constantly, these germs get transmitted onto them. Even the sweat from our hands itself over time will make our phones a haven for germs. Research shows that around 82% of hands have bacteria on them, 92% of phones have bacteria on them and as much as 16% of hands have E.coli which is a type of bacteria commonly found in faeces. The same bacteria is found in at least 1 among every 6 phones. Which means that even when your phone or hands look clean, it might actually be dirtier than a toilet seat and it is best advised to clean it regularly to prevent illness.
Methods to ensure phone hygiene
This is why it is really important to clean your phone on a regular basis. One way would be to wipe the phone with a tissue or cloth every now and then. That would get rid of the dust and perhaps some of the germs. A better approach would be to use a slightly water dampened cloth to wipe your phone and then wipe it dry with a dry cloth or tissue. Using a bit of alcohol based solution such as a hand sanitizer will help as it is anti-bacterial and also vaporizes after a while. However make sure that you do not use too much or wet the cloth so as to end up damaging your device.
There is another method that involves emitting UV light onto your phone and it does help kill the germs. But it will still not get rid of the dirt accumulated on your phone’s body and besides such UV equipments can be quite costly. One such example was CleanBeats, which sanitizes, plays music and recharges up to two phones at a time but costs US$ 500. So that isn’t a solution that everyone can afford.
But the best approach by far is to completely wash your phone and then wipe it dry. This would eliminate almost all the germs and make your phone nearly completely germ free. If you think about it, the method comes natural to most things in your life. When your dishes or your car or your watch gets dirty, we wash it rather than wipe it with a dry or wet cloth. The alternatives methods do work but they aren’t as hygienic as washing.
Why waterproof phones are best in terms of hygiene?
This is why waterproof phones have a big advantage over their competitors. Granted their waterproof abilities do allow you to capture nice photos underwater or use it safely in the rain or even helps you be sure can survive an accidental drop into water. But one of the hidden and often overlooked advantage is the ability to clean it regularly and properly to restore hygiene.
What phones are waterproof ?
Most smartphones from Sony’s XPERIA range of devices including the recently launched XPERIA M4 Aqua are waterproof and allow you to thoroughly clean your phone as they have an IP58 rating which allows the phone to be immersed under water for upto 30 minutes at a depth of upto 1.5 metres. These can also be run under the tap and given a thorough cleaning when needed.
Conclusion
There are a few other phones too that are waterproof but few companies offer such a wide range of waterproof phones as Sony does. We feel that every manufacturer should offer it in their phones if possible. If not for the sake of protecting the device itself, perhaps for the sake of hygiene and in turn protecting ourselves. Head over to dirtyphones.org which offers more insight about the problems of phone hygiene along with neat infographics so go over and check it out.