Tips to Disinfecting Your Smartphone During This Flu Season!

Yes, we all love our trusted tech buddy, the smartphone. We practically carry him or her (depending on the preferred context) everywhere we go. It does everything for us; from handling our schedule to making sure we stick to our fitness regime.

Boy, what would we do without it?

A Germ Infested Haven

Unfortunately, as much as our phones are a positive factor in our careers and social interactions, they can be a beehive of all sorts of germs and viruses.

Indeed, microbiologist and professor at the University of Arizona, Charles Gerba (or famously known as Dr. Germ) provide his sentiments on this affair.

He states that despite our dependency on these phones, they are one of the most unhygienic gadgets in our lives.

In fact, a study carried out in 2017 by the University of Arizona discovered that cell phones handled by high school students had 10 times the concentration of bacteria as compared to toilet seats!

Yikes…

Gerba explains that people rarely take the time to clean their phones, hence, bacteria builds up to the point that the likes of MRSA, influenza, and E.coli find a comfy home on the surface of your phone.

Nevertheless, that’s not even the worst of it. According to Gerba, the number of times we spend pressing our cheeks against the phone, swiping, and even tapping on it only means that we expose ourselves to these dangerous germs on a regular basis!

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As much as we love our phones, they are a haven for all kinds of germs and viruses

Indeed, most of our phones have touch screens, meaning that these germs can seamlessly spread from our hands to our face, providing an entry for all these infections.

Fortunately, it’s quite easy for us to disinfect our phones before they become a serious health hazard.

Gerba advises that we should regularly clean our smartphones at least once a day, or at least three times a day if our friends have come into contact with them.

Additionally, it’s important that we exercise vital hygiene habits such as washing our hands regularly. Moreover, no matter how interesting the next episode of The Haunting at Hill House is, we shouldn’t take our phones to the bathroom!

That being said, here are some of the most essential phone-cleaning products to have during this flu and cold season!

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Most of our phones carry all sorts of harmful microbes that can cause a myriad of infections

Microfiber Cloths

This is hands down one of the easiest ways we can clean our phones on a regular basis.

In fact, if one of our friends touches our phone screen, just remove the set of fiber cloths stashed in the pocket and wipe the screen down.

Thankfully, the fiber cloths normally come in sixes, so we are able to keep a backup in different areas whenever we feel our phone’s hygiene has been compromised!

Cleaning with Water and Alcohol

Microfiber cloths might be beneficial, but if we want to take our cleaning to a whole other level, it’s vital that we use a home solution comprising of 40% alcohol and 60% water and rub our phones with it.

Simply get a lint-free, soft microfiber cloth and dip it into the solution before wiping the phone.

That being said, avoid spraying the solution directly onto the phone as this might damage some of its components.

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Make it a habit to occasionally disinfect your phone on after using it the whole day

Using Disinfectant Wipes

In the event that mixing a solution might be loads of work, we can opt for disinfectant wipes such as Clorox and Lysol.

Nevertheless, just as the water-alcohol solution can be detrimental to our phones, we should be careful with how we use these wipes, as they tend to be saturated with a concentration of liquid.

Evidently, it’s better to use these wipes on the phone’s case to prevent any unwanted damage.

Hand Sanitizer

There’s no denying that frequently washing our hands is one of the reasons why we don’t find ourselves bed-ridden with illness.

So just like our hands, our phones carry plenty of germs throughout the day. With this in mind, we can use hand sanitizer to ensure our phone screens and cases remain clean.

Indeed, hand sanitizer, just like many alcohol-based sanitizers, works effectively and evaporates quickly. This prevents any instances of damage that might be caused by the liquid.

One added advantage of using hand sanitizers is that they provide maximum protection for up to 24 hours. Meaning that a majority of germs that come into contact with your phone during this time frame are killed.