Household merchandise ‘dirtier than your rest room seat’ as ‘complacent’ Brits refuse to scrub it
Thousands of Brits have never cleaned their TV remote control – with findings showing they are dirtier than bog seats.
A poll of 2,000 Brits found that 25% hadn’t ever bothered taking a cloth to the remote, aka the ‘zapper’, ‘doofer’ or ’thingamajig’. The average telly gizmo is clicked on just under 150 times-a-day, with folk forever changing channels, adjusting the volume or brightness, and hitting mute.
But just 25% admitted they had never cleaned their zapper, with are a breeding ground for germs with main containing traces of human waste. The study found that remote controls which had never been cleaned were 15 times filthier than the average loo seat, with a very high level of Enterobacter – a germ found in poo – on clickers.
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Sarah Khan, of Churchill home insurance, said many Brits were ‘complacent’ when it came to the cleanliness of their homes. She said: “Our study found that a quarter of those polled had never cleaned their TV remote.
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“The remote was found to have the highest count of Enterobacter or all items we studied, include bedding, kitchen surfaces, laptops, light stitches and even toilet seats.
“In fact, TV remotes were found to host 15 times more Enterobacter than the average toilet.”
Another common item riddled with germs is said to be a smartphone. Another study carried out by the University of Arizona found that a smartphone has around 10 times more germs than a toilet seat.
(Image: Getty Images)
Professionals say this is because we take our phones with us everywhere – even the toilet itself. Health organisations say you should be disinfecting your phone daily – as well as washing your hands regularly and before picking up your phone, if possible.
Brits are phone addicts, with a study finding that the average screen time is around six hours and a half, reports Data Reportal. Half of this is on a phone, with the other half is in front of a laptop, television, tablet or other screen. Adding to this, Exploding Topics says we pick up our phones around 58 times in a day.
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