In today’s world, mobile phones are literally our lifelines — they are with us through the good, the bad and the ugly. This list lets you know just how ugly it can get. Here are 12 disturbing facts about your mobile phone, according to Yahoo.
Your Phone Is Filled with Crud
You never know what you’ll find when you pop the cover of an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy, but you know it won’t be pretty. The repair shops we contacted report a wide range of effluvia inside, including metal shavings, construction dust, tobacco leaves and “what can only be described as green slime,” says Oz Rahman, vice president of quality assurance at Batteries Plus Bulbs.
Your Phone Is Also Dirtier Than a Subway Toilet
And not by just a little. Cellphones have 18 times more bacteria per square inch than your average toilet seat, according to researchers in Turkey. A study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that the surface of one in six handsets contained — how do we put this delicately? — fecal matter.
Pocket Lint Is Not Your Friend
The No. 1 cause of failure for charging ports and headphone jacks? Pocket lint, say several repair shops.
“Lint is a horrible conductor that can slow down charging or block it entirely,” says iCracked’s AJ Forsythe. “And it doesn’t move when you blow into the port — in fact, that just forces the lint in even farther.”
However, you can remove the lint from a headphone jack using a Q-tip and a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol, he adds. The charging port is trickier — you may need to open the case and reseat the power connector, a task better left to a pro.