No, don't put your wet phone in rice: Popular phone myths debunked, according to science

Canva Americans are on their phones for four hours and 25 minutes per day on average, according to a 2023 Reviews.org survey. But despite that fact, those trusty hand-held devices can be a bit of a mystery to many smartphone users. Smartphones have only been around for about 30 years (though not taking off widely until the early 2000s) but that fact, combined with how quickly their technology evolves, means there are some major misunderstandings about cellphone use among the American public. Certain phone myths persist, even though scientists, health experts, and manufacturers have told customers otherwise. From not leaving your phone plugged in overnight to rice being the secret to successfully drying out a wet phone, some common misconceptions about smartphones seem true–but research says differently. To set the record straight, Visible partnered with Stacker to review research from universities, scientific journals, and news sources to identify seven common myths about phone use that have been debunked. Many of these misconceptions were once rooted in fact, but as technologies rapidly develop, they’ve since become outdated. Meanwhile, others are just plain untrue. Read on to find out which of your long-held beliefs about charging, cleaning, and maintaining your phone you need to retire. Myth: Putting your wet phone in dry rice will prevent water damage Canva This misunderstanding probably came about because rice does indeed absorb water and was occasionally used to keep film equipment dry in the early days of Hollywood. This quick fix was popularized through online articles and forum postings that applied the trick to phones shortly after the original iPhone came out, including a 2007 post on MacRumors and a Washington Post article about a wet Blackberry that same year. However, in 2014, phone repair company TekDry commissioned a study that found that even after 48 hours submerged in dry rice, only 13% of water was dried out of phones. Because the rice doesn’t actually make contact with the inner electronics of the phone, it can’t actively draw out all the moisture. Instead, multiple companies say the best way to treat a wet phone is to dry it off with a lint-free cloth, place it in front of a cool fan, and let the air circulate. Myth: Leaving your phone plugged in overnight will damage the battery