Blake Dowling
The rules of 2020 are getting to be the norm.
Handwashing at Beast Mode Level, wearing masks, going for an evening run while dodging cars and hurdling tree limbs to get as far away as possible from your fellow humans.
When you see your best friend, you fist bump.
This is the way it is.
Max hygiene — with one big exception, which I bet most of you forget: The Mobile Device.
There are stats (gross stats) that say, if not cleaned regularly, cellphones have more E. coli than toilet seats.
How is this possible?
Phones are warm; bacteria thrive there. Phones go everywhere with us now. They are dirtier than doorknobs and cat food bowls, too. Thank you, Jack, for this vile (yet intriguing) blog.
I once had a sales team member who constantly applied hand sanitizer. In fact, you would shake his hand, he would immediately lather the stuff on.
Like, really, are my hands that gross to you?
Nevertheless, it was his groove; his comfort level was in normal gear only when heavily sanitized.
Now that we have all become this person, why are we not cleaning our phones?
Let’s dive in for the scoop.
We use our phones and mobile devices like never before. On Sunday, I estimate I might have logged three hours of phone time with texts, calls, tweets (very important tweets), and reading up on college football the day after the games.
According to Hartford Health Care, the average smartphone user touches their device 2,617 times a day.
What’s the bottom line? Clean it every day, people.
Why bother wearing a mask if you are holding a germ brick in your hand and to your head.
WTXL in Tallahassee recommends a 70% isopropyl alcohol and use a cotton ball — or something similar to avoid damaging the phone.
In fact, avoid using paper towels, as even they might be too abrasive.
Also, avoid using kitchen cleaners, especially bleach.
Here is the official briefing from Apple.
There’s a firm in Hollywood, Florida, called Palindrome Consulting, with a blog on its website saying the coronavirus could live on a phone (metal or glass surface for several days).
So, think about the last time someone handed you their phone and said, look at this pic/video/email, etc. has that person cleaned their phone this week? This year?
Cellphones have become something of a third hand for many of us; it’s always there.
If you will bend over backward — exercising, eating right, wearing a mask/gloves — shouldn’t you be washing that third hand just like the other two?
When is the last time you cleaned your phone?
The bottom line, it’s a potential weakness in our approach to fighting illness. So, clean it.
Your phone (and your health) says thank you.
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Blake Dowling is the CEO of Aegis Business Technologies and the host of the Biz & Tech podcast. He writes for several organizations and can be reached at [email protected].
