Your Handy, Compact Germ Incubator

"Unless you treat your phone the same way as your hands, it's hard to keep all three clean."
"A petri dish in your pocket [is the description that PhoneSoap website uses to describe the viral breeding state of a cellphone]."
"Warm places like pockets and purses are breeding grounds for bacteria."
Dan Barnes, co-founder, Mashable

"Specifically, mobile device hygiene was a major and fast-growing concern even before coronavirus came on the scene."
Taylor Mann, CEO, CleanSlate UV

Clean your phone.

Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images

Both UV lights and anti-bacterial wipes are equally effective in sanitizing a cellphone, according to a study by MIT. Evidently, however, all UV sanitation do not clean phones in the very same manner, and they don't reduce like amounts of bacteria lodged on the cellphone.

Crunchbase News reported UV sanitizing companies everywhere are noting a dramatic rise in the sales of their devices. PhoneSoap's sales have grown exponentially, about 1,000 percent year over year the past week alone. CleanSlate UV based in Toronto, has managed to raise $2 million in start-up funding. The global hysteria over contracting COVID-19 has alerted people to become more vigilant in protecting themselves from infection.

Up to the present, very few people thought to bother cleaning their cellphones. It simply wasn't considered necessary. Despite that cellphones are in continual use, and the fingers that fly over cellphones also touch all manner of public surfaces, readily conveying whatever pathogens might be present to the very personal device that never leaves the possession -- and the hands -- of the owner.

Pick up viruses, bacteria, spread them on the cellphone unknowingly, and just tuck it safely away in a pocket or purse. Allowing the pathogens to find a nice warm haven, a perfect growth environment.

So, while Health Canada and the Centre for Disease Control caution the public to be aware that there are certain steps to be taken to avoid contracting COVID-19, and the most effective is to carefully wash hands for at least 20 seconds, lathering in the soap and reaching every digit, every fold of skin before rinsing, and once done, a sigh of relief. Then, out with the cellphone and re-contaminate those nice clean hands after which rub your eyes, scratch your chin and smooth your lips. Gotcha!

If maintaining clean hands in the prevention of infection is important, then cleansing the item of possession that most often finds its way into those hands is critically important. Of course the cleaning technique will be somewhat different. You're not about to immerse your cellphone in warm, soapy water, not if you intend to preserve its usefulness. PhoneSoap which sells UV sanitizing devices for phones conducted a new study and its finding was that the surface of the average device is no less than 18 times more soiled than a public washroom.

PhoneSoap UVC Cleaner

Of all the various categories of ultraviolet light -- A, B and C -- it is C only which is strong enough to kill germs, with its wide range of effectiveness. Different light modes for strength of purposeful cleansing is a feature of most UV-C cleaning devices. However, the light penetrates only superficially and is most effective on surfaces that are smooth. Germs securely in place beneath a button, or finding haven in a phone case, are germs the light misses.

Isn't modern technology truly wonderful? Nature throws another zoonotic infection at the world and medical science has to scramble to figure out how to meet another new public health challenge, but the science of technology isn't far behind, presenting ever-new gadgets to help us deal with avoiding transmission of said infections. But just as humanity is grateful for pharmaceuticals that help us live with dire health conditions, there always seem to be downsides, as in drugs with their side effects. UV-C exposure over a long term may have health effects technology and science are not yet aware of.

Oh, and while we're at it, think of all those other metal and plastic objects that we're in frequent contact with on a daily basis. Keyboard, headphones, house/vehicle keys. Don't dip your keyboard in soapy water, but do by all means, scrub those house/vehicle keys on occasion, to remove the nasty bacteria you'll be certain to have picked up over time, without ever considering the possible effects on  your well-being...