The study, conducted by QS Supplies revealed that four in 10 Brits frequently use their phone on the toilet, but 39.6 per cent never clean their phone…
It’s a fact of life: germs are everywhere, and there’s no escaping them. But does that mean we should surrender and accept contact with a never-ending germ army?
Or do we fight the good fight and engage in as many germ-dodging tactics as we can? Some people fall firmly into one of these camps but most are somewhere in the middle – picking their battles based on what disgusts them the most.
QS Supplies spoke to 1,008 Brits to find out who are the germaphobes among us, what tactics we use to avoid germs, who lies about hygiene behaviours, and the ways we expose ourselves to more germs than we realise.
The study concluded that one in 10 of us take our own bedding to hotels in order to avoid germs, while 53.7 per cent admitted to pushing buttons with knuckles.
Unsurprisingly, the hotel bathroom was where the germ-phobic folks in the study feared the most, with a staggering 68.5 per cent admitting to hovering above public toilet seats over sitting and 26.3 per cent skipping flushing to avoid touching a public toilet.
Paper towels also come in handy for almost four in 10 Brits who use them to turn off taps and for over half of people who use them (or their clothing) to open the bathroom door.
“Overall, 37.2 per cent of people ‘often’ or ‘always’ take their mobile phone with them to the toilet.”
The majority of Brits have a device that they can take with them anywhere and often do: their mobile phones. Only one in five people said that they never take their mobile phone to the bathroom. Overall, 37.2 per cent of people ‘often’ or ‘always’ take their mobile phone with them to the toilet. What’s more concerning, though, is that only four in 10 of people have never cleaned their mobile phone.
The fight continues outside the bathroom. More than three-quarters of us wash food despite it being labelled ‘pre-washed’, while 27.7 per cent wash our hands after putting on shoes.
For those truly committed to the germ-dodging lifestyle more extreme measures can be taken, like taking your own bedding to a hotel (12.3 per cent) and taking personal cutlery to a restaurant (5.9 per cent).
Exactly one in 10 people classified themselves as a germaphobe. The bathroom supplies company took the germ-dodging activities and ranked them based on how much more likely self-confessed germaphobes were to do them compared to non-germaphobes. They found that taking your own bedding to a hotel is the biggest hint that a person may be a germaphobe, as almost 27 per cent of germaphobes have done this compared to 10.5 per cent of non-germaphobes.
Self-identified germaphobes were also 2.5 times more likely to have taken their own cutlery to a restaurant, 2.4 times more likely to wash their hands after putting on shoes, and 2.4 times more likely to flush the toilet using their feet. If you do all these things then you might just be a germaphobe.
Whether germaphobe or not, most of us have a germ-dodging quirk or two. Nine out of 10 people claimed not to be a germaphobe but still sometimes flush the toilet with their feet or pack their own bed sheets when staying in a hotel.
The bathroom produces many germ-dodging tactics but perhaps our guile is misplaced and we should focus on specific items in the home, like our kitchen sponges and mobile phones. Our phones may provide welcome relief from boredom, but they’re also a germ storage device with the capacity to undo diligent hand-washing hygiene.
While the results of the study shows that many Brits engage in crazy tactics to dodge germs, it’s worth noting that the very best defence against germs is simple: wash your hands regularly and properly. Also, maybe give your phone a clean once in a while.
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Main image credit: Pixabay
