Why you have to stop taking your mobile phone to the loo
We’ve all done it – scrolled through our phones while on the loo. Otherwise it’s just time you’re not getting back!
But you might want to put the phone down or at least give it a good clean. It could be making you sick.
“People think the toilet bowl and the floor are the dirtiest places around the house,” microbiologist Professor Sally Bloomfield of the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene told The Sun. “While that might be true, hopefully we’re not touching these with our hands.”
She added: “Instead, think about the places that harbour germs that we regularly come into contact with before we handle food or touch our mouth, eyes, nose and face.
“The flu virus dies off within a minute of being outside a person, but norovirus can survive for hours, days and even weeks on a dry surface.”
Phones are particularly dangerous because we carry them everywhere, touch them multiple times a day, have them with us when we eat, and take them to the toilet with us.
“Touching your phone between using the toilet and washing your hands is a very bad idea,” says Dr Paul Matewele, microbiologist at London Metropolitan University.
“Toilet seats, handles, sinks and taps are covered in germs such as E. coli, which can cause urinary tract infections and intestinal illness, C. diff which can result in diarrhoea, and acinetobacter which can cause a contagious respiratory infection.”
So it might be best to avoid bringing your phone to the toilet or if you can’t, at the very least wash your hands thoroughly and then give your phone a clean with an antibacterial wipe.