Smartphones, tablets, and other tech gadgets have influenced our life so much that they become a part of our daily routine. Little did we know that these gadgets could cause damage to our skin?
According to skin experts, those who are hooked to smartphones or tablets are suffering from a phenomenon known as smartphone face. It is not radiation related but it concerns our posture.
With the existence of smartphone, most people keep checking updates using their smartphones or tablets, making their heads bent down and forward for hours. This affects neck muscles to be shortened; thus, increasing gravitational pull on the skin. This causes sagging skin, double chins, loose jowls and marionette lines or vertical lines from your lips to chin.
Another lowdown of using gadgets is they allow your skin to age earlier than usual. Frequent use of smartphones, tablets and laptops may bring out early signs of aging. It forms etched lines, wrinkles, double chins and loose skin. People also suffer from another condition known as tech neck, or making their neck look older due to frequency of gadget usage.
There is another condition known as cellphone dermatitis. Because our phones have nickel and cobalt in their body, this metallic sheen can cause reaction to the skin and develop itchy rash.
Gadgets are now considered as breeding grounds of bacteria that can cause skin irritation, allergies and even acne. The mere fact that you pick up the phone, your cheeks have touched all the grime and dust accumulated by your gadget. Worst is if you have not cleaned your phone for the longest time. Imagine how much dirt you are rubbing against your face.
In a recent study, an average iPhone is dirtier than a toilet seat. Learning this, it makes us scream, ewww!
Scientists discovered that cell phones are covered in 10 times more disease causing bacteria than most toilet seats. The main culprit is our hands. They are carrier of bacteria because whenever they touch things, (i.e., food particles, dirt and grime from money, doorknobs and light switch, etc.) they easily captured those dirt and bacteria, transferring them to our gadgets.
Other than the dirt your phone gets from your hands and external pollutants, another factor to blame is our mouth. When we talk on the phone, the nearness of our mouth and nasal area turns into an easy transmitter of germs. Likewise, whenever we use our gadgets, the warmth they emit makes them a perfect place for bacteria to breed.
To prevent gadget causing skin disorders, do the following:
- Allocate some time away from your phone or tablet to give your neck a rest.
- Improve your posture to prevent further skin damage. Hold your smartphone or tablet up to look at it so your chin stays parallel to the ground. Prevent keeping your head down.
- Clean your gadgets regularly. For those with limited budget, you can clean your gadgets using microfiber cloth and rubbing alcohol. Prepare a 40:60 ratio of alcohol to water mixture, and then add a few drops on a cotton ball or microfiber cloth. Use it to clean solid phone parts and keyboards. Avoid getting any liquid inside your gadgets. Use a piece of scotch tape to remove dirt and dust in between keys and other hard-to-clean parts.
- Wipe your phone after someone borrows it. Keep a microfiber cloth for your phone inside your bag. Make sure that you wash and dry this cloth regularly.
- Always have hand sanitizers available to keep your hands clean.
- Use headsets or earphones when making phone calls to prevent your face touch the phone’s receiver. You may also use phone cover or opt to talk on hands-free mode and keep your conversations short so the skin is not in contact with the phone too long.
- Don’t forget to clean your gadget accessories like earphones and protective cases because these accessories are carrier of dirt.
