McDonald's Restrooms In Japan Have Cleaning Devices For Phones

It's safe to say that cell phones play a huge role in many of our lives in today's digital age. Years ago, cell phones were primarily used just for communicating with each other through call or text. Now, the capabilities of cell phones have greatly expanded. The Deloitte Center for Technology, Media, and Telecommunications took a survey of 2,005 consumers from the United States and found that people use their cell phones nowadays for tons of activities. For example, the survey found that out of 10 consumers, six of them use their phones to control their smart home devices, and around seven in 10 consumers use their phones to pay and shop. Furthermore, about 68% of 14 to 17-year-olds and 49% of adults said that they find themselves consuming more content on their phones than they intended.

With many of us using our phones more and more for daily activities, there comes a heightened concern for hygiene. Interestingly, cell phones have about 10 times the amount of germs and bacteria on them than toilets do, according to The University of Arizona's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. That's about 25,127 bacteria per square inch of a cell phone, while an average toilet seat has about 1,201 bacteria per square inch, per State Food Safety. McDonald's in Japan has a solution for combating germy cell phones by having cleaning devices next to sinks in the restrooms, and it's just as cool as it sounds.

Twitter user @shao1555 shared a video from a McDonald's in Japan that has a phone sanitizing station next to the restroom sink, per Twitter. In the video, the poster can be seen placing their phone into a slot next to the sink that's appropriately labeled with "Smart phone." Their phone is automatically taken down into the sanitizing machine, where a lid closes and ultra-violet (UV) lights come on. After a moment, the sanitized phone is then sent back up for the owner to retrieve. A few Twitter users were a little skeptical about the phone sanitizer, but several people thought that machines like that should be available in other countries as well.

The unique sink phone sanitizer in one is actually called the Wosh and is made by Wota. The handwashing station can sanitize phones in about 30 seconds, removing about 99.9% of bacteria. The unit also filters and reuses 98% of its own water supply and has a ring light around the sink that illuminates for 30 seconds to promote healthy handwashing practices. McDonald's isn't the only one implementing the use of UV lights to disinfect items. In fact, grocery stores also use UV lights to kill bacteria, germs, and other microorganisms.