Why You Should Never Take Your Phone Into The Bathroom

Nowadays we are on our phones a lot throughout the day. Whether it be on social media, news apps, or work – we might as well be superglued to our phones.

So much so that we sometimes feel the need to take them with us wherever we go, including the bathroom.

This is a big No No mums.

Have a seat and read the (very gross) reasons why you should not be taking your phone with you to the toilet.

Your phone is already dirty enough

The amount of bacteria on one’s phone varies from person to person. Cell phones have been donned as one of the dirtiest objects we come in contact with on a daily basis.

Not all germs and bacteria will make you sick, it is really just the pathogens (disease-causing bacteria) that you need to worry about. Pathogens lurk in fecal matter (yes that means poop) which can cause food poisoning and stomach flu.

Your phone is crawling with pathogens

When you are in the bathroom, you touch surfaces that other people have touched, often after they have been in contact with other germs and dirt. This in turn increases the odds of you picking up germs and bacteria from other people and transferring them to your phone.

The most alarming factor is that every time you flush the toilet while the lid is open, it sprays a number of germs into the air. This is known as toilet plume. Those germs land on your bathroom surfaces, leaving these areas all kinds of gross. (Time to move that toothpaste holder next to your toilet)

Along with these germs contacting the bathroom surfaces, they will most certainly come into contact with your phone. The end result is that you eventually bring your phone to your face.

By doing so you could also and most probably bring along other people’s germs and toilet plume. So this is where handwashing habits and how often you disinfect your phone all come into play.

Disinfecting your phone is super important.

When it comes to cleaning your phone take a look at the manufacturer’s instructions, as we would hate you to use a detergent that could damage your phone. Your best bet is to use a product that is specially formulated to clean phones, such as wet wipes for screens or computers.

Don’t forget, a dirty phone can mess with your skin

Most bacteria found in a bathroom can cause both food poisoning as well as acne. These germs may be present in bathrooms after someone with food poisoning has used the loo before you.

Germs from your phone are often the reason why acne is worse on one side of the face versus the other, this being the side where you tend to hold your phone. Therefore it is recommended that you talk hands-free as much as possible, practice hand hygiene, wash your face twice a day, and remember to disinfect that phone!

So if you absolutely have to take your phone into the bathroom with you, here are a few tips to tone down the grossness

• Avoid setting your phone down on any surfaces while you use the loo so that it doesn’t pick up any germs.
• Designate one hand for your phone and allow this hand only to touch your phone.
• When it is time to wash and dry your hands, you would need to put your phone down on toilet paper to avoid it touching surfaces or straight into your pocket.
• Disinfect your phone, we don’t know about you but this all sounds rather exhausting, and can be completely avoided if you just leave your phone where it belongs instead of bringing it with you to the bathroom.

Mums, do you take your phone with you to the loo? Or do your kids, your husband? And will you be changing your habits after reading the above?

Comment below to let us know x