Puh-leeze, a lot of people are freaking out over the headline grabbing, sound biting, “news” that keyboards are dirty.
We are encouraged to clean our keyboards. With what? GermX hand sanitizer makes typing really slippery. Like KY Jelly on your fingers (not that I would know about that.)
Tub and Tile Cleaner spritzed on the keyboard certainly would do the trick, but posts sure do have a lot (more than usual) of typos.
A small study conducted by a British micorbiologist confirmed something we’ve all known – but likely ignored:
KEYBOARDS ARE FILTHY!
In some cases, really filthy, containing five times the level of harmful bacteria (E. coli, staph, oh my!) as a toilet.
- I let dogs lick my mouth.
- I heartily endorse and support the five minute rule on food (ha, like food on the floor can last more than five seconds with dogs around.)
- I eat from sidewalk vendors
- I eat at carnivals
- I eat at Chinese restaurants
I’m not worried about a little filth on my keyboard. It’s mostly my filth anyway. Note, it’s a “small study.” I bet it was done at the pubic library.
Sure, everything’s a little dirty, but I share your attitude. I don’t even rinse off Boolie’s deedees after they hit the floor, unless there’s visible crap on them.
I firmly believe that you make your kids less resistant to sickness if you insist on sanitizing everything. Ben’s mom is completely horrified that I let the dogs lick the kids’ faces. “Dogs lick their bottoms!” Yet she’ll shoo a fly off her pie and then eat the pie. Stupid. Like the fly wasn’t just climbing through a pile of shit.
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Dude, QWERTY disease is gross. Did you read about the keyboards that had to be decontaminated?
Sick stuff. I hope you don’t get MRSA or the drug-resistant staph from your keyboard!
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@Gretchen: I HATE maggots. Nothing grosses me out worse than maggots. Heeeeeeeby-Jeeeeeeby.
@Laurie Ruettimann: I thought you were lost to Facebook forever. I’ll have to check out your place to see what MRSA is. And I didn’t read about the Great Keyboard Decontamination of 2008. I did read on Lifehacker that you can actually put your keyboard in the dishwasher.
“I let dogs lick my mouth… I heartily endorse and support the five minute rule on food (ha, like food on the floor can last more than five seconds with dogs around.)… I eat from sidewalk vendors… I eat at carnivals… I eat at Chinese restaurants…”
Ha, and if you’re anything like me you do at least half of those in front of your keyboard and/or with some other device (cell phone? PDA?) that also has a keyboard.
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It’s my hands that I have to keep clean not my keyboard. At least my keyboard is from my own dirty fingers.
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@Krissi: yes, that happens a LOT in front of a keyboard, you’re right.
@Edna: right! I’m glad I don’t use a keyboard where strangers might use it also. That could be yucky.
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The only time I REALLY cleaned my keyboard was when I inadvertently
spilled a large Double Double coffee on it.
I still can’t talk about the time I fried my modem with a glass of white wine. (oops)
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It appears that even you have your limits, at least by omission from your list. You did not include Mexican restaurants, so they must be off the bottom of your scale. Some of those little hole in the wall tacorias are filthy, as are the fine folks who work there and cook and bring your beans to you. They usually don’t last long because the health dept shuts them down. But they move down the street and do it all over again.
The dirty keyboard (and mouse) story is not new. We’ve known it for years. Word is just now getting across the North Atlantic. Being in the support business, I touch dozens of keyboards and mice each week. Got a small bottle of Purell or such in every pocket and service bag and storage nook of my car. And I use it regularly.
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@Winston: Correctomundo! I don’t eat in tacorias either. In our town, it’s the China buffets that have difficulty staying open. Have you ever run into somebody like Laurie, who won’t let tech support touch the keyboard?
I thought it was a five second rule with food. Thanks for giving me 60 times re leeway.
And I touch door handles without wiping them.
And I take back my credit card from cashiers.
And I walk on the deck at the public pool.
And I pick heavenly raspberries right off the bushes (this is week four!) without washing them.
And…
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Remember as a kid, we would “kiss it up to the sky” when our food would fall on the floor? That would clean it enough to eat it. I didn’t die once with this method.
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It’s my hands that I have to keep clean not my keyboard. At least my keyboard is from my own dirty fingers.
kira…also wrote this…http://www.wachoviabank.com
@Gretchen: LOL on your MIL. That is so true, people hate dogs mouths, but accept flies! She would enjoy Slumdog Millionaire.
@Laurie: Who would contaminate my keyboard any more than me?
thanks you for great post.
kindy…also wrote this…http://www.palottery.com
only time I cleaned my keyboard was my children pour milk on it:P
You should be subject to a certain degree of germs to build up your resistance to them. People who keep everything super clean seem get ill all the time. I though the rule for food was that if nobody saw it fall then it’s ok!
Thanks for share. It’s useful for me.
This is great post. Thanks for sharing.
Interested post , Thanks for sharing
9business…also wrote this…http://www.providian.com
You’re right about the dirt, we are too clean sometimes, no wonder there is the MRSA bug that cannot be killed due to it being tolerant to the cleaning agents – years ago I remember being covered in mud most of the summer and rarely getting a cold, now it’s a different story!
The other point is the dirt would no doubtedly be our own as we all use computers at home.
John Williams.
I’m with the “wash hands regularly” group.
And I don’t eat at my keyboard.
These other items are disgusting!
hahaha.
I just pick my keyboard up and give it a little shake, watching all the giblets fall out.
Good enough for me
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The only thing I care for about my keyboard is that all my buttons could function properly.
I moved jobs recentley and I did the turn the keyboard upside down and bang it onto a piece of A4 paper, the stuff that fell out made me feel sick. I ordered a new keyboard the sameday.
You never know who has been using them before you do you, erghhhh!
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OK, if I look at my keyboard it looks a litle bit like it’s calling to be replaced
. But it’s not that horrible, that I do not work on my PC.
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What’s a Keyboard? I went to public school in New Orleans
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Yep that is so true and so they are..
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That’s true but i only give importance that’s all buttons are working properly or not.
There’s going to be a lot of difference between a public keyboard any your own. If the germs are all yours then does it really matter how many there are? If you let others know how dirty your keyboard and mouse is then it might even put them off using your PC anyway!
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This is exactly why I don’t let others touch my keyboards or laptops. Also I use the “protection films” that you can just place on top of the keyboard; and these films can be cleaned easily.
My keyboard has nothing on the bathroom door handle. You have no idea how many people use the restroom and don’t wash their hands.
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I all ready wash my hands like a OCD raccoon, but I think that’s from working in retail so often in my youth. lol
I think that is ridiculous that someone would go through a “study” to say keyboards are filthy. “Filth” is what builds up our immune system and I will have everything to do with it
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