According to Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, cellphones carry 10 times more bacteria than most toilet seats. “They’ve got quite a bit on them,” reported the Mother Nature Network. “When’s the last time you cleaned your cellphone?”
Gerba explained that while toilets tend to get cleaned frequently, because people associate the bathroom with germs, cellphones and other commonly handled objects, such as remote controls, are often left out of the cleaning routine.
Gerba says the amount of germs on a phone isn’t a problem; it’s the sharing of phones between people that is yucky.
People are hesitant about cleaning them because they are electronic devices, and they use them all the time, they are in constant contact with their phones.
Gerba says that remote controls, which are used by people when they’re sick, are even worse than phones for spreading germs. Gerba also notes that office phones, shopping carts and the first-floor buttons of elevators are also extremely germy.
Gerba suggests that people try not to share their cellphones. Gerba suggested that a “gentle” antibacterial wipe of the phone should be fine.
Dr. Gerba is also the creator of a “commodograph,” which he describes as a method of determining patterns of droplet emission from the bowl. According to the NYT, Gerba “has also used a strobe light to shoot a time-lapse photograph of a flush, which shows droplets of water, usually invisible, each containing thousands of bacteria and viruses, being ejected from the bowl.”