You’ve Probably Put Off Cleaning These 5 Gadgets for Too Long

When you go to the bathroom, you are supposed to wash your hands. If you spend time outside, you should wash your hands when you return. Before having lunch or dinner, you will need to wash your hands. Hygiene is important and it is something most of us practice. You may think you’re washing enough, but the reality is probably not the case. You see, it’s not necessarily your hands that need washing, but the objects you touch, especially gadgets. Studies have shown that smartphones can carry 10 times more germs than the average toilet seat. But one thing to note is that toilet seats are regularly cleaned and disinfected, while most phone screens are not. They continue to collect and carry these germs, while you touch them and spread them, and that’s a recipe for disaster.

Phones aren’t the only gadget this happens with. The fact is, the devices we touch day in and day out are dirty, from our keyboards to game controllers. They may need to be wiped down and disinfected, or sometimes deep cleaned, but that usually doesn’t happen because we’ve been putting it off for one reason or another. Consider this your health wake-up call to get some disinfecting wipes or a suitable cleaning solution and get started. Here are some gadgets you’ve probably been putting off cleaning for too long – we’ve got them all.

Your smartphone is the obvious candidate here, but you’ll also want to include any touchscreen devices you have in your home, including other mobiles, tablets, gaming consoles like the Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch, touchscreen laptop monitors, retro handhelds, e-readers, even small appliances and smart tech with a touchscreen. You regularly touch these devices with your fingers or hands, and human hands can get very dirty.

Imagine this, for example. Gas pumps are notorious for being extremely dirty: according to a study conducted by Kimberly-Clark Professional, approximately 71% of them are “heavily contaminated” with related diseases and germs. You go out to fill up your car, manipulate the gas pump lever, the exterior of your vehicle’s tank, and interact with the payment screen and buttons. Then, you get back into your car, without washing, and touch your smartphone, your on-board screen and possibly your keys. You just transferred many of these germs to your phone and other devices. Scenarios like this happen throughout your day. No, you don’t have a gas pump at home, but there are plenty of dirty things you could come into contact with.

The FCC recommends cleaning your phone daily. But how? With touchscreens, like on your phone, you can’t use harsh liquids or chemicals. It is not safe to use WD-40 on electronic devices or other corrosive chemicals. Apple says it’s OK to use Clorox disinfectant wipes or diluted isopropyl alcohol. You can also wipe the screen with an antibacterial microfiber cloth. UV phone sanitizers also work against most germs.

Another pair of gadgets that you use, probably daily, are your keyboard and mouse. Not only for your personal PC or laptop, but also for your office or work computers, home computers, and any other similar setup you have, including wireless keyboards you have stashed in a travel bag. If you can believe it, studies show that keyboards are another contender for germ farms containing more bacteria than a toilet seat. Disgusting.

Although some resourceful people can clean them regularly, and good for you if that describes your habits, most people probably don’t. To quickly clean these devices, unplug them if they are external. If it’s a built-in keyboard on a laptop or a wireless model, make sure it’s turned off. Shake them gently to loosen debris or use compressed air or a hand-held pneumatic device to blow out the solids. Costco offers a USB dust collector to clean your tech. Next, use a mixture of mild soap and isopropyl alcohol and wipe the surface of the keys or mouse, scrubbing away any dirt present. If you really want a deep clean, you can remove all the keys from your keyboard and soak them in a mixture of mild soap and water. Be sure to dry them or allow them to dry completely before replacing them. You can’t really soak a mouse, but on some models you may be able to remove the shell or various components to clean them separately.

While you’re at it, you may also want to clean and maintain your entire desktop or laptop computer. If you’re going to clean the peripherals, you might as well clean the most important part at the same time.

Your gamepad is probably as dirty as everything else if you’ve never wiped it down. This is even more true if multiple people in your household use a console, such as siblings, children, partners, friends, roommates, or anyone else visiting. The worst thing about gaming controllers is that during long sessions with hot, sweaty palms, you might get extra grease in the seams or crevices.

When cleaning, you will need to wipe the exterior with an antibacterial wipe or use the recommended mixture of mild soap and isopropyl alcohol. Next, you’ll want to take something like a toothpick or cotton swab to scrub the crevices, like on the sides of a controller. I do this all the time with my DualSense controllers and some pretty nasty oils come off. You’ll want to clean all controllers, including standard Xbox and PlayStation controllers, ones you use with your PC, or mobile controllers you might use with your phone. Wipe the handles, sides and front surfaces of all buttons. Ideally, you clean your controller after each use. If you opt for the bare minimum, about once a week, be aware that this will leave a lot of germs.

By now, it’s pretty much a given that any handheld computer is going to collect nasty germs, like the remote control of a TV or streaming media player. You may or may not handle them less frequently than some other gadgets, but it’s still certain that there will be an exponential buildup.

The same rules apply to remote controls. Turn them off or remove the batteries if necessary, then scrub them well on the outside with antibacterial wipes or a mixture of mild soap and alcohol. Make sure to clean the front and back and get between the buttons. If necessary, you can use something like a toothpick to clean between the pimples and in the crevices. Depending on how often you use your TV remote, it may not need cleaning as often as anything else. But we also have to think about what happens in a household made up of several people: others also get involved.

Some of the less obvious devices also include your headphones and earphones – which is important if you wear them while you exercise and sweat. Additionally, smartwatches and fitness trackers, especially those with touch screens or controls, USB cables and chargers, portable power banks, mobile screens like a portable monitor, cameras, and anything else you might touch or handle require regular cleaning. If they leave your house or you take them with you when you travel, clean them often. Just like dirty phones or keyboards, these devices are regularly exposed to germs, and frequent cleaning can be the difference between living a healthy lifestyle and getting sick. Seriously, some of these bacteria that are left are of the pathogenic or disease-causing type.

Always turn off the devices in question before cleaning them, if you can help it. You’ll want to turn off or remove batteries from cameras, mobile devices, chargers, and smartwatches. Start by wiping them with a dry antibacterial cloth. If you need something stronger, opt for a mild soap and alcohol solution. It’s a repeat tip, yes, but mild dish soap works wonders, and something like Dawn can be used for a ton of different cleaning operations.

There are also complete cleaning kits for electronics, like the Amazon 10-in-1 gadget which is relatively affordable and makes cleaning much easier. It comes with everything you need to get the job done.