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I think that today, more than at any other time in history, people are aware of the need to wash their hands. The pandemic has taught us much in this area, although not everybody has picked up the practice as much as they should.

We also often hear about how dirty common items are that we use every day. The bacteria that is found on our keyboard, for example, can sometimes rival what is found on a toilet seat.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons/nesnad License: CC BY 3.0

Another device that we use every day that can easily harbor bacteria is our cell phone. According to Time, the University of Arizona has stated that it can easily be 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat. If that isn’t enough to make you cringe as you put the cell phone to your face to talk, I don’t know what would.

It seems as if there is now something interesting happening in Japan and it is taking place in the bathroom at the local McDonald’s restaurants. It was revealed, thanks to a tweet that was captioned (translated):

“At McDonald’s nowadays, not only do they have a place to wash your hands but one to wash your smartphone as well.”

They then go on to show a video and describes how everything works. There is a narrow slot on the edge of the sink where the cell phone is inserted and covered automatically. Light shines through the lid and the phone is disinfected.

After being disinfected, the phone is ejected slowly from the slot and you can pick it up and carry it away again. You can also smile, knowing that the germs are no longer on your phone.

Photo: Pexels/Porapak Apichodilok

A Japanese company named WOTA is responsible for this device. It is known as the WOSH, and it uses deep ultraviolet light along with a hydro-logical cycle system to remove 99.9% of the germs from your phone in only 30 seconds.

At this point, it is only being used in Japan as far as we know. It would be nice, however, if it was used worldwide and after millions of people watched the video, it’s obvious that others feel it should be used elsewhere as well.