How Clean is Your Cell Phone?

Those handy, little devices go with us everywhere: the car, our coat pockets, the bathroom. Have you ever really considered how dirty that cell phone is when you stick it next to your face? 

I've been re-watching a bunch of the "How Clean is Your House?" shows that ran on the BBC a few years ago. I adore Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie and their clutter, grime and dirt busting tactics. In addition, after watching a show, I REALLY want to clean and disinfect my entire house.

Then I got to thinking about my cell phone. How often do I really clean the thing and what bacteria and microbes are crawling on my keypad?

According to the site, Keeping It Klean, the average cell phone...

• can contain germs like Staphylococcus, Micrococcus and Bacillus, and one in six cellular phones is contaminated with fecal matter;
• has more contamination than a toilet, a doorknob and the bottom of a shoe;
• has bacteria on it than can live for more than a week;
• contains tens of thousands of germs on each square inch and these germs can multiply when the phone is warmed up by heavy use or by the warmth from your hands and face.

Gross.

There is hope. However, a daily cleaning regiment is required. This can include using sanitary wipes (check with your phone manufacturer first), a paper towel and rubbing alcohol, and a cotton swab and alcohol for the little nooks and crannies.

Also, this year a group of college students from Utah have invented a cell phone cleaner/charger that uses UV light to clean and disinfect cell phones. The Phone Soap only takes about three minutes to clean a phone, but they can also be left in the cleaner overnight.

All it takes are the word "fecal matter" to get people up and cleaning.

Photo by wine me up