The horrifying truth about why you should NEVER use your phone on the toilet

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

Taking your phone to the toilet may keep you entertained while you do your business.
But this common habit can turn your device into a haven for dangerous microorganisms, a scientist warns.
Dr Primrose Freestone, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester, says fecal bacteria can easily reach your phone in the bathroom.
This includes E. coli, which can result in nasty diarrhea and stomach cramps, and Pseudomonas, which causes infections in the blood and lungs.
Even after you've washed your hands with soap, these bugs can travel back to your hands once you touch your phone again.
As a result, phones should be kept out of the toilet altogether, and regularly sanitized with alcohol wipes.
'The phone will at some point get contaminated, so periodically disinfecting your phone is a good idea,' she told MailOnline.
'My Nokia gets a disinfectant wipe over twice a week.'
When we flush a toilet, a plume of tiny liquid droplets containing bacteria and fecal matter, invisible to the naked eye, is violently ejected.
According to prior research at the University of Colorado Boulder, this so-called 'toilet plume' can travel 5 feet (1.5 metres) in eight seconds.
Therefore, anything that is within five feet of the toilet bowl can become contaminated, whether it's the floor, the wall or a nearby book.
Research also suggests that this dreaded plume still escapes when we've got the toilet lid closed.
As a result, Professor Freestone urges people to keep their phone well away from the toilet, or even better, out of the bathroom entirely.
'Toilet areas adjacent to toilets, because of the toilet spray trajectory, are pretty contaminated,' she told MailOnline.
'It does not matter where you go, there will be faecal bacteria on lots of [bathroom] surfaces.
'So soaps and taps, toilet and wash basin surfaces, door handles, bath mats – the list is long.'
If you're holding your phone while you empty you bowels, putting it on the floor before flushing is one of the worst things you can do.
That's because fecal matter whizzes out of the toilet upon flushing and eventually settles onto the floor.
'The floor around the toilet will – if not disinfected regularly – have traces of faeces with lots gut bacteria, which will stay alive for hours and days,' said Professor Freestone.
'So I would not put your phone on the floor next to the toilet as it is likely to pick up the faeces and the bacteria associated with the waste product.'
Even if you put your phone on another nearby surface, such as the cistern or the nearby windowsill, it could risk contamination too.
Professor Freestone acknowledges it can be hard to be separated from your phone, even for the relatively short time it takes to use the toilet.
In extreme instances – such as not wanting to miss a very important phone call, for example – she suggests keeping it in your pocket for the whole time.
Even though we may not appreciate it, phones are high-touch items particularly at risk of bacterial contamination just like doorknobs, light switches and taps.
Therefore, we should be washing our hands much more often before or after touching them, while also keeping them sanitized, she added.
Using a 70 per cent alcohol wipe or a mild soap and water mixture are good options, but don't submerge it if it's not waterproof, or use harsh chemicals like bleach.
The specialist in home hygiene and food safety has also weighed in on the best way to position your toilet paper.
In the 'over' position, the next square of toilet paper is facing the user, while in the 'under' position, the next square of toilet paper is facing the wall.
Aerosol droplets containing urine, faeces and vomit stay in the air for up to 20 seconds
Tiny droplets carrying traces of urine, faeces, vomit and viruses float into the air at mouth-level after a toilet is flushed, a 2021 study warned.
It showed that tens of thousands of particles are spewed into the air by a flush and can rise several feet above the ground.
Droplets were spotted floating around five feet (1.5m) in the air for more than 20 seconds, with researchers pointing out this poses a risk of inhalation.
Small droplets and aerosols are so light they can float around in the air on tiny draughts, before settling on a surface.
Researchers say that they can also act as vectors for diseases. SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid, for example, has been found alive in human faeces.
Therefore, scientists warn that flush-propelled particles from an infected person's faeces could float into the air, be sucked in by a passer-by, and infect them.