As smartphones became mainstream over the past decade, multiple research papers popped up, documenting how extremely filthy they can get. Fresh research from the University of Arizona said that smartphones can be 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat. Another paper published in Nature claimed that microbial infection is so bad that robust public health and biosecurity protocols are needed to minimize the risks.
But over the years, another class of personal devices has become a part of our daily lives — health wearables such as smartwatches and fitness bands. Researchers at Charles E. Schmidt College of Science of Florida Atlantic University studied various types of wearable straps and discovered that nearly 95% of them were contaminated with various forms of bacteria.
Among the different types of band materials, rubber- and plastic-based materials were found to harbour the highest degree of contamination, while metal-based bands with gold and silver metal showed the lowest bacterial activity. The research paper — published in the Advances in Infectious Diseases journal — notes that depending on the gender and a person’s occupation, the bacterial load can vary.
And I suppose this can make sense as wearables are usually even more exposed on one’s wrist vs a phone that is often carried in the pocket. We also saw during the Covid-19 pandemic that brass transferred way less virus than other materials (brass is a copper alloy, and copper has antimicrobial properties).
The team tested three kinds of cleaners — Lysol Disinfectant Spray, 70% Ethanol, and apple cider vinegar. Notably, the Lysol and ethanol solutions took only 30 seconds of exposure to dramatically reduce the bacteria count, while apple cider vinegar needed 2 minutes to get the job done.
The linked article does also give some additional guidelines on cleaning, but it is important not to forget cleaning wearables, and again it seems the same lessons from the Covid-19 epidemic apply, namely that 80%+ concentration of alcohol should work well.