Bach Seat

Amid the chaos of the COVID-19 lock-down one of your only allies in the social distancing campaign is your cell phone. Right? After all, everybody is attached to their mobile phone. In fact, research has shown that millennials check their phones 150 times a day (PDF). Why do we check our cell phones so much?

Researchers from the University of Illinois found in a recent study that 37% of women and 30% of men walking down the street have a smartphone in their hand. The UofI researchers Laura Schaposnik and James Unwin paper The Phone Walkers: A study of human dependence on inactive mobile devices propose four plausible reasons that pedestrians practice this behavior.

Appeasement – The first proposal is that we need immediate access to our phones now because so much of our social lives exist on the phone. In particular, research suggests that people in romantic relationships expect to be texted back within five minutes. We keep our phones out to appease partners.

Anxiety – The researcher’s next hypothesis was that we might be psychologically dependent on these phones to the point that we have anxiety if we’re separated from them. The researchers write. “… the simple manipulation of the object could lead to a corresponding decrease in tension or anxiety ….”

Safety – Personal safety is another distinct possibility. Research has found that technology gives young people confidence when facing the potential dangers of crime in a public place. The UofI team says we “..may hold their phones both for personal reassurance against perceived threats and as a visible warning sign to potential assailants.”

The peacock effect – We might want to impress a possible partner with our fancy phones. The researchers compared the phenomenon to “displays of affluence by wearing designer fashion clothes or jewelry … to enhance or affirm a person’s social standing and to attract a suitable mate.”

We are addicted to our cell phones so what? I have covered the germiness of mobiles on the Bach Seat before. But in the wake of recent events, I checked on current thinking and found that COVID-19 is probably on your mobile. German researchers reported (PDF) in the Journal of Hospital Infection that Coronaviruses can live on inanimate surfaces like metal, glass, or plastic, and remain infectious “from 2 hours up to 9 days.”

Lead researcher Günter Kampf, M.D., an associated professor at the University of Greifswald, reported that a good strategy for surface disinfection is with a solution that contains 0.1% sodium hypochlorite or 62 to 71% ethanol. Either of these “significantly reduces coronavirus infectivity on surfaces within 1 min exposure time.”

Charles Gerba, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology at The University of Arizona, told Mens Health

…What we found … in office buildings is that you touch a surface with a virus on it and then you place it on your cell phone.” (A door handle, for example.) … You then go home or to another location and you touch your phone again a touch a table moving it to another location—great way to spread viruses around an office.

Dr. Kampf warns, “Check with the manufacturer. First, it should be effective against coronavirus … Second, not all disinfectants are compatible with the material of the smartphone surface.”

Professor Gerba recommends an alcohol wipe or a microfiber cloth. “I would do it every time I have been out in public,” he says.

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To safely clean your mobile:

• Apple (AAPL) recommends using a “70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe … [to] gently wipe the hard, nonporous surfaces … such as the display, keyboard, or other exterior surfaces.”
• Google (GOOG) advises using “ordinary household soap or cleaning wipes” when needed.
• Samsung’s (005930) cleaning instructions include washing your hands.

Related article

• AB’s Hand Washing Demo: No Cleaver! (Alton Brown Television)

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.