# Do you need to regularly disinfect your cell phone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 24, 2018, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676 "2018-06-24T20:02:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/21 "2018-06-25T12:42:40Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Me too. Sometimes I even skip the cell phone step and just touch my face directly after handling money. I also sometimes use my cell phone while sitting on the toilet. _Please_ don’t handle money while on the toilet. :eek: Maybe it’s time to switch to bitcoin. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/22 "2018-06-25T14:13:00Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Me too. Sometimes I even skip the cell phone step and just touch my face directly after handling money… After a lunch out (often takeout eaten while sitting on a filthy public toilet…), I use any bills I got as change to floss my teeth. Kidding. Actually, I have a serious point here: the more germs I’m exposed to, the less I get sick. I’m a teacher with a lot of students from exotic places (Newfoundland, Andorra, Tierra Del Fuego, even Kalamazoo…); I must have every known immunity. Or maybe it’s a case of: The less I worry, the less I get sick. So, everyone, get some counseling for your phobias! ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/23 "2018-06-25T14:55:56Z")
Till someone’s listed cause of death is a dirty cellphone, I’m not going to worry about it. I survived all these years not washing my hands after every bathroom use, ate food with greasy dirty hands and I look at my cell while sitting on the pot. I do wipe my screen a few times a week with the lens cleaners for glasses available at my job. It’s more to remove finger smudges than to disinfect the phone. ---
**Author:** ![tein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@tein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tein)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/24 "2018-06-25T15:15:46Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > Till someone’s listed cause of death is a dirty cellphone, I’m not going to worry about it. I survived all these years not washing my hands after every bathroom use, ate food with greasy dirty hands and I look at my cell while sitting on the pot. I do wipe my screen a few times a week with the lens cleaners for glasses available at my job. It’s more to remove finger smudges than to disinfect the phone. This is why I specified scientific recommendations. With how many objects you come in contact with every day it will be difficult to find out what exactly made you sick. There are also a lot of illnesses that are not lethal but still unpleasant to go through. Lastly personal anecdotes are not reliable. Is smoking okay just because you know healthy chain smokers? What I had in mind was scientists taking some samples from phones and checking if the germs on them are enough to actually make you sick and then check how good different cleaning methods are at reducing these germs and lastly how often you need to clean your phone to be safe. I know that nothing is truly sterile but there is a middle ground between germaphobia and 0 hygiene and I want to find that reasonable middle ground. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/25 "2018-06-25T15:27:59Z")
The reasonable middle ground is probably the ground you are standing on right now. Wipe off the screen when it gets smudgy and think about something else. Americans in particular are bizarrely anxious about “germs” and have caused themselves a lot of problems because of it. Humans evolved to coexist with bacteria of every sort. Your body will take care of you, okay? Drink upstream of where you shit, and you’ll be good. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/26 "2018-06-25T15:28:58Z")
> [@tein](#): > > This is why I specified scientific recommendations. With how many objects you come in contact with every day it will be difficult to find out what exactly made you sick. There are also a lot of illnesses that are not lethal but still unpleasant to go through. Lastly personal anecdotes are not reliable. Is smoking okay just because you know healthy chain smokers? > > What I had in mind was scientists taking some samples from phones and checking if the germs on them are enough to actually make you sick and then check how good different cleaning methods are at reducing these germs and lastly how often you need to clean your phone to be safe. I know that nothing is truly sterile but there is a middle ground between germaphobia and 0 hygiene and I want to find that reasonable middle ground. > [@Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project](#): > > more than 90 percent of adults now have a cell phone, according to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. For people under the age of 44, that number is closer to 97 percent. Wouldn’t we be seeing evidence of a problem? ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/27 "2018-06-25T15:34:40Z")
I never disinfect my phone, and hardly ever get sick. Then again, it’s not like I lick my phone or anything. I would only do this if you had a suppressed immune system. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2018, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/28 "2018-06-25T16:47:00Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Just remember what happened to the Golgafrinchams. They thought they didn’t need telephone sanitizers, and found them tedious and annoying. They got rid of their telephone sanitizers. Then they all died of a plague due to unsanitized telephones. > > [Golgafrincham](http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Golgafrincham) That’s hilarious, Qad. Seriously, I have read that over attention to sterility leads to allergies as your immune system has to do something. Obviously, I am not talking about open wounds and operating room sterility, totally different topic. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/29 "2018-06-27T13:17:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Wouldn’t we be seeing evidence of a problem? Yea, but I bet most of those that died under the age of 44 had cell phones! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/30 "2018-06-28T13:57:05Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > I never disinfect my phone, and hardly ever get sick. Then again, it’s not like I lick my phone or anything. I would only do this if you had a suppressed immune system. What, lick your phone if you have a suppressed immune system? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/32 "2018-06-28T15:22:50Z")
Reported. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/33 "2018-06-28T17:13:51Z")
I am a mild germaphobic in general - especially as relates to food safety. But I only wipe down my phone after a bout with the flu or a cold. . . basically any time I would replace my toothbrush. I just wipe it down with rubbing alcohol and let it sit to dry. ---
**Author:** ![EdelweissPirate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@EdelweissPirate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdelweissPirate)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2018, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/34 "2018-06-28T19:17:29Z")
TruCelt, would you mind explaining why you replace your toothbrush after you’ve had a flu or a cold? I mean, you’re not going to re-infect yourself with the same flu or cold; your immune system is freshly primed to fight off any virus you’ve shed onto your toothbrush. And most viruses can only survive for a few hours or less on a hospitable surface. Even the flu maxes out at 24 hours in ideal conditions. But again, if you’ve just gotten over a cold or the flu, you’re effectively immune to that virus, even if it’s somehow viable on your brush the next time you brush your teeth. And it’s not like you’d share your toothbrush with anyone else. So: why replace your toothbrush? I get that many germophobes are educated, intelligent people who understand that their fears are irrational. Heck, a phobia is essentially defined as an irrational fear. So, without judging, I’m curious about why you replace your toothbrush after a cold or the flu. Is it “I was sick so this toothbrush now seems unclean?” Or is it more specific than that? I’m sure you have a reasonable (or better-than-reasonable) grasp of microbiology, and that you probably replace your toothbrush in this case not Because Science but rather because it makes you feel better and you can move on with your life. But what itch is scratched when you replace your toothbrush after being a little sick? I’d be grateful if you could explain. To tie it back to the OP, the answer to “do you need to regularly disinfect your cell phone?” probably depends on the specific needs one is trying to meet by doing so. And if a Nobel-Prize-winning-but-OCD microbiologist needs to disinfect her cell phone regularly, more power to her. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/35 "2018-06-29T01:56:47Z")
I would think that between the high frequency electrical pulses from the transmitter along with the magnetic flux density of 3.0 to 40.0 mT they produce, not much can live if in constant contact with a cell phone. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/36 "2018-06-29T02:00:06Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I would think that between the high frequency electrical pulses from the transmitter along with the magnetic flux density of 3.0 to 40.0 mT they produce, not much can live if in constant contact with a cell phone. > > Dennis Is this a joke? Because, it’s already been shown that bacteria can live on a cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/37 "2018-06-29T03:18:56Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Naturally, when we turn to Science, we find that researchers in desperate need of publications [have investigated the matter](http://healthline.com/health-news/cell-phones-bacterial-cocktail-062414) and [you should be very afraid](http://time.com/4908654/cell-phone-bacteria/). > > The only rational way to protect yourself is to give up your cellphone entirely, because germs. Or if you insist on keeping it, following advice to swab it with a water and rubbing alcohol solution in the suggested proportions (as mentioned in one of the linked articles) should ease fears of cellphone pathogens. > > And welcome to the SDMB! Do remember to replace your laptop on a regular basis, as it is no doubt as contaminated as your cellphone. :eek::smack: > > \*I am an M.D., but more importantly have a Masters’ degree in Science. Your pitiful claim that a cell phone is 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat is overshadowed by various reports I’ve seen comparing a toilet seat with the bacteria crawling on point-of-sale touchscreens. Lemme tellya, the touchscreen bacteria, in numbers and in sheer terrorizing voracity, have it all over the pathetic cell phone bacteria. I don’t even use dinner plates for serving food any more, because you never know when they’ve come into proximity with cell phones, tablets, point-of-sale touchscreens, and of course hands that have touched those things and then touched the plates. Based on everything I’ve read about comparative contamination, I now serve dinner on my toilet seat, which by all accounts is comparatively the most sanitary place available. I lay out kind of a nice, sanitary, semi-circular buffet. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/38 "2018-06-29T14:55:51Z")
(1) Telephone sanitizers? Old Douglas Adams joke: _Arthur and Ford rematerialise in what appears to be a mausoleum, filled with dead telephone sanitizers, hairdressers and advertising account executives…_ (2) While googling _telephone sanitizer_ to find a suitable quote, I came across image of the product. Jeez. j ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/39 "2018-06-29T17:58:00Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Is this a joke? > Because, it’s already been shown that bacteria can live on a cell phone. Let’s just say it ties in with previous fears about the RF and the magnetic field. Remember those brain damage claims? Dennis ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/40 "2018-06-30T19:22:43Z")
> [@EdelweissPirate](#): > > TruCelt, would you mind explaining why you replace your toothbrush after you’ve had a flu or a cold? > . . . > > So: why replace your toothbrush? > . . . Because I don’t have access to testing which would identify the exact bug that made me sick, so I can’t be sure when it would be safe to use again. Because I brush my teeth at least three times per day, so who knows whether it’s been dry long enough to kill the bug, even if I knew how long that was? Because such illnesses often come with higher levels of mucous and other secretions which are sticky and hard to clean from the tiny crevices between brush strands. Because the brush heads should be replaced more often than I do them anyway, and I’m not sick often enough for it to be a waste of money. Because when a cold went around at [summer camp, toothbrush](https://www.cdc.gov/oralhealth/infectioncontrol/questions/toothbrush-handling.html) isolation and sanitation was right up there with handwashing on the recommendations list. And honestly, with your argument we could dispense with dishwashers and even dish soap. Simply rinsing the dishes with water and leaving them out to dry would meet all of your criteria. But many of us are raised with higher benchmarks for cleanliness than “won’t make me violently ill.” I liked one Doper’s characterization of mild germaphobia as “Germo-vision.” It’s not so much that I am terrified that there might be a germ, it’s more that I’m aware of where they hang out, and prefer to avoid contact with them whenever possible. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676/41 "2018-06-30T19:48:47Z")
The solution to bacterial pollution is dilution. Rinse your toothbrush vigorously after each use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-need-to-regularly-disinfect-your-cell-phone/816676.md?page=3)