If you're the kind of person who is soothed by videos of pimples being popped, abscesses being drained, or cysts being removed, then you might well be looking for your next fix.
After all, we've covered plenty of disgusting-yet-satisfying stories about pimple-popping videos. But now we've got a new kind of video that might scratch the same itch: smartphone cleaning.
You might not realize this, but without the proper maintenance and care, your average smartphone can get super-gross super-fast. I mean, think about all the sweat, dead skin, and general dirt that gets clogged up in all that circuitry and electronics.
If you don't believe me, then maybe the official TikTok account of an Irish technology repair shop will prove it.
Phone Fix Craft, a tech repair shop in the suburbs of Dublin, has been regularly uploading footage of their deep cleans on laptops, smartphones, tablets, and AirPods, and you'll either find them revolting, oddly-gratifying or a weird combination of the two.
As you can see, most of the grime and filth seems to accumulate in tiny, cramped spaces that aren't well-exposed to the air, such as charging ports, or the spaces between keyboards, or inside the speakers of headphones.
Most of them are easy to clean if you know how to do so. As you can see from the videos above and below, the staff at Phone Fix Craft use a thin metal scraper to pull the dirt out of the affected ports, then employ a hair dryer or compressed air to blow any remaining grime away.
As the camera zooms in, viewers can be treated to a grotty-close up of all the dirt, dead skin, and clothes fibers which have clogged up so many nooks and crannies.
Cleaning out AirPods of the build-up of ear wax and hair around the edges of the headphones is a little trickier though, and involves the phone repair experts pour a drop of isopropyl alcohol solution onto the headphone to soften the wax before using a blunt toothpick to dislodge the mess.
As you can see from the comments below, a number of TikTok users have commented on how grossed-out the footage has made them feel and expressed their shock at how mucky some of the smartphones were.
For instance, one user wrote: "The owner of this phone was probably really excited when they found a new place to stuff their earwax," while someone else added: "Me checking my phone to make sure I don't have anything like that near the speaker."
The moral of the story is this: invest in some cotton buds, compressed air, wet wipes, isopropyl alcohol, and a toothpick. Otherwise, who knows what kind of festering germs you might be pressing against your face in the future.
