You wouldn’t rub your face against a toilet seat, but you probably don’t think twice before pressing your phone against your cheek to chat to a friend after taking public transport, or tapping away on a shared keyboard to log into your computer.
Scientists at the University of Arizona found that phones carry 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats. The average toilet seat reportedly harbours 50 bacteria per square inch. Sure, that’s not clean and you certainly wouldn’t eat your dinner off it, but regular cleaning (we hope) explains why it’s not diabolically worse, and why items like cleaning sponges, chopping boards, and some gadgets harbour more bacteria.
Everyday devices such as wireless earbuds and keyboards can be a breeding ground for bacteria, because we unwittingly transfer microbes, food residue and sometimes organisms capable of causing infection to them. For example, E. coli, salmonella, norovirus, staph, and gonorrhoea were a few examples of the bacteria and viruses identified on personal electronic devices examined by the experts.
Whether they have more bacteria than a toilet seat is almost impossible to say, but there’s a chance that they might.
Here are ten filthy gadgets beyond smartphones that you might want to clean… and pronto!
1. Smartphones
The most obvious and arguably the grubbiest gadget is the one we hold next to our mouths. How often you check your phone is your business, but it could be close to 80 times a day if an old estimate from Apple is anything to go by. Every time you check it after taking a train or going to the loo or preparing dinner – or touching well, anything – you’re unwittingly moving microorganisms from your fingers to your phone where they can chill out on its screen until you disturb them again.
“Because people are always carrying their cell phones even in situations where they would normally wash their hands before doing anything, cell phones do tend to get pretty gross,” said Emily Martin, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan. Research varies on just how many germs are crawling on the average phone, but one study found more than 17,000 bacterial gene copies on the phones of high school students.
It’s important to point out that not every phone is teeming with nasty bugs or we’d be sick *all* the time. Most of what’s found is ordinary skin flora but phones can carry potential pathogens, and a study of 25 phones found bacteria on 92% before cleaning.
So, assuming you’re as repulsed as we are, what can you do to prevent your phone becoming a 5-star hotel for bugs? The obvious answer is to clean it regularly! Alcohol or gadget-cleaning wipes provide a mess-free way to banish bugs … just be careful not to get any moisture in important openings and check you’re using the right type so you don’t damage your pricey gadget.
Then of course there’s when and how we use our phones. Scrolling videos and replying to messages while cooking is a big no-no. A survey conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that almost half of participants used a phone while prepping food including to check a recipe, which seems fair enough. But if those instructions involve raw chicken, for example, it’s a recipe for disaster if raw meat juice finds its way to the screen your touch regularly.
It should go without saying, but one of the worst places to use a phone is in the bathroom. When toilets flush, they spread germs everywhere, which is how phones can end up with faecal bacteria like E. coli on their screens. “Taking a cell phone into the bathroom and then leaving with it is kind of like going in, not washing your hands and then coming back out,” Dr Martin said. “It’s the same level of concern.”
The lesson? Leave your phone alone or outside the room when you’re doing anything or going anywhere germ-y and wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water!
2. Keyboard and mouse
Don’t think your work gear is safe from inspection. Crumbs from snacks, skin flakes and repeated finger contact make keyboards ideal grime traps – particularly the spaces between keys. In one study, 96% of sampled keyboards had bacterial contamination – food for thought if you hot desk in an office!
In an old and shocking test by consumer group Which?, four out of 33 keyboards swabbed in a London office were regarded as potential health hazards, with one particularly disgusting keyboard harbouring five times more germs than a loo seat, or 150 times the recommended limit for bacteria. Gross.
An expert commenting on the findings, said that the grime on shared keyboards often reflects what’s in colleagues’ noses and guts, so if someone has a cold or stomach upset, germs can easily linger on keyboards and be passed on, spreading illness in the office.
To clean your keyboard (or the one you use at work), turn it off and unplug it, then give it a shake or use a brush to dislodge debris … and prepare to be disgusted! If you want even more fun, why not use specialist cleaning putty or gel. It squishes into narrow gaps to grab fine filth and is immensely satisfying or horrifying. Next, wipe the keys with an alcohol wipe or similar (you might want to check the device manual if your keyboard is pricey or part of a laptop). Whatever you do, don’t spray surface cleaner onto the keys and let moisture get trapped beneath them or there will be more than germs to worry about!
Then it’s a case of cleaning your keyboard regularly and washing your hands before eating or touching your face.
3. Wireless earbuds and headphones
Earbuds are a particularly intimate gadget. They collect earwax, sweat and skin cells, then sit in a warm charging case – arguably the perfect breeding ground for filth.
While evidence of just how dirty these devices are is thin on the ground, one recent study found bacteria on 16% of women’s and 24% of men’s earphone samples, (also perhaps suggesting men’s ears are not quite as clean as women’s – just saying.)
Unlike phones and keyboards, they’re probably cleaner than a loo seat, so this isn’t about a horror-story bacterial count, but hygiene and irritation. This is because a dirty earbud can potentially irritate the ear canal. Using them for a long time may accumulate moisture and earwax and provide a suitable environment for bacterial and fungal growth. The presence of bacteria on the skin is normal and vital to human health, but some can cause serious ear canal infections, according to the study.
Luckily, because they’re so small, earbuds are quick to clean. Just remove the silicone tips if there are any and free any debris. Obviously, you can’t run earbuds or earphones under the tap, but wiping them with a specially-designed cloth should kill any nasties. And it goes without saying, don’t share them with your (probably gross) partner or kids!
4. Smartwatch/ fitness tracker
There’s a certain irony that a device that’s meant to help make you healthier can make you potentially sick if you’re really unlucky. But, if you think about it, it’s not surprising that fitness trackers and smartwatches designed to capture data during sweaty workouts and come into close skin contact get gross.
In a small study, microbes were detected on every smartwatch tested, with bands deemed to be grubbiest with a median of 24.5 colony-forming units on them, although most were normal skin-organisms, so nothing to worry about for most healthy people. Another very small study of 20 wristbands found bacterial contamination on 95% of them, with rubber and plastic straps dirtiest – something to bear in mind if you wear your rubber smart watch 24-7.
Poor hygiene – particularly in the bathroom – could lead to some potentially dangerous bacteria on trackers, but it’s still a good idea to take them off and give them a clean after exercise and doing any dirty tasks. For an Apple Watch, Apple recommends switching it off and removing it from the charger before wiping with a non-abrasive, lint-free cloth or specific alcohol wipes on silicone and metal-banded models.
5. TV remote or games controller
When was the last time you cleaned your TV remote or games console controllers? They’re the gadget that almost no one cleans but lots of people touch while eating.
While they are not a proven route of infection in the average living room, some studies have found coliforms – a group of bacteria associated with faecal contamination and soil and plants – on objects including remote controls, probably due to poor personal hygiene. Eww.
Worse still, unlike watches or earbuds, controllers and remotes tend to be shared – making them the perfect point of cross contamination. So, if you have a flatmate you suspect doesn’t wash their hands after a trip to the bathroom, maybe get your own games controller.
There are plenty of times when you might want to use a remote control outside the home – holiday lets, hotel rooms or hospitals, for example – so our top tip would be to wipe them before using them. A damp microfibre cloth or manufacturer-compatible disinfecting wipe across the buttons would do the trick.
6. Coffee machines
There’s nothing better than waking up with a great cup of coffee, but we want a fancy biscuit on the side, rather than a nasty bug, thanks.
Of course coffee machines come in all shapes and sizes, making cleaning them a matter of consulting the manual, but one thing most have in common is a drip tray and that’s where the potential lurgies lurk.
Up to 67 types of bacteria could be hiding out in your drip tray, according to a recent study, including Pseudomonas. This strain of bacteria is known to be pathogenic and can cause trouble for anyone with a weakened immune system, for example. So whatever the machine, the best place to give it a regular clean is probably the drip tray, but wiping the buttons wouldn’t go amiss either.
Cleaning up
It’s important to stress that not all bacteria are dangerous. Our skin, homes and devices naturally host microbes, and many are harmless, while studies vary by setting, method and whether devices are personal or shared, which have a big effect on the results.
So, it’s not necessary to sterilise your possessions or panic about every microbe, but a good idea to wash your hands frequently to stop grime and bacteria passing endlessly between them and your devices in one nasty, infinite loop.
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