ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO Placing time limits on your use of a smartphone and regularly cleaning them can improve health of both the user and the phone.
It sometimes looks like we have an addiction to smartphones that impacts our relationships with family, friends and consequently our health, not to mention germs and bacteria collecting on your phone and even your keyboard.
So strong is our addiction to phones many people carry them around in their hands, not even putting them away in a pocket or purse.
I recently watched a toddler pottering around a playground as his parent sat on the periphery working the smartphone. The little child occasionally called out to the parent. Without even looking up there was just a mumbled response.
A Michigan study has found our use of smartphones is responsible for increased tension, conflict in the home, strained relationships, and children are competing for their parents’ attention.
The study found smartphones had also become a form of escape from the demands of parenting.
If you don’t think you’re spending too much time on your phone it may be helpful to track just how much time, in a 24-hour period, you keep your phone within constant reach. The researchers say most of us spend at least three hours a day on smartphones and tablets.
There are some practical steps you can take to manage the situation, they suggest. You can block some of the incoming data and put strict limits on how much time you spend on your phone. You could establish a rule that when you are with your children or spouse your phone will be out of reach. The same rule could apply at meal times. You could ban all smartphones from the table where you eat meals together.
It is not only the time you are checking your phone that affects your relationships but your reaction to the messages too. If it upsets you, you’re likely to transmit those feelings to your loved ones.
Back to those germs and bacteria on the phone and your computer keyboard.
Unlike your hands that you should be washing many times a day, your smartphone, keyboard, and mouse are not only accumulating dirt and germs, they could be harbouring bacteria.
A study concluded that 92 per cent of cellphones have bacteria on them. There are 25,000 germs per square inch on those cellphones according to one estimate.
A study has found that one in every six smartphones had fecal matter on them. Previous studies have indicated computer keyboards are never or rarely cleaned.
Constantly handling our phone and the battery inside it ensures a consistent warmth, creating the perfect environment for bacteria to flourish. The bacteria might contain E.coli from feces. Don’t forget this is the same phone you press to your ear and against your face as you talk. It is probably being transferred to your purse, hair, car steering wheel, wallet and any other surfaces you regularly touch.
We are exposed to germs and bacteria on a daily basis and should not become obsessed with trying to keep everything spotless. That would make you obsessive compulsive. We should, however, be taking reasonable steps to clean things that we touch regularly.
We can establish limits for ourselves and our loved ones regarding smartphone time and ensure they are regularly cleaned, for the health of it.
Here’s to time limits and regular cleaning and here’s To Your Health.
To Your Health is a weekly column by Gillian Slade, health reporter for the News, bringing you news on health issues and research from around the world. You can reach her at gslade@medicinehatnews.com or 403-528-8635.
