When Bright White Gadgets Turn Yellow and Ugly

This advice is not just for gadgets, laptops, and phones that are white (iPods and MacBooks, for example). Gadgets of all colors eventually lose their luster and “new gadget look” with age, and there are three things that drastically speed up the aging process. Here are three things you should keep your gadgets away from:

Smoke. Smoke has a cocktail of chemicals in it. Smoke of all kinds will discolor or damage your electronic devices. Moral lesson: if you want your gadgets to be white for the rest of their lives, then you shouldn’t smoke. If you smoke in the same room as your gadgets, your gadgets will eventually become as yellow as your teeth.

Sunlight. People from the computer and video game industries are pale. There’s a reason for that. They work away from sunlight because heat from sunlight causes extra strain on electronics and the UV rays from sunlight will age and discolor the housings or casings of many electronic devices (in extreme cases, the housing or casing will crack or become brittle). So take it from the vampire Count: keep out of the sun!

Grime. I remember seeing this article in a magazine where there are more bacteria on the average person’s hand than on the rim of an average toilet bowl. That’s just gross. And that icky mix of dirt, dust, microscopic filth, oils, moisture, and stubborn little living critters… well, it can damage white surfaces, too. So even though you’re old enough to have gadgets, you still need to do what your elementary teachers said: wash your hands before and after playing!

This advice is not just for gadgets, laptops, and phones that are white (iPods and MacBooks, for example). Gadgets of all colors eventually lose their luster and “new gadget look” with age, and there are three things that drastically speed up the aging process. Here are three things you should keep your gadgets away from:

Smoke. Smoke has a cocktail of chemicals in it. Smoke of all kinds will discolor or damage your electronic devices. Moral lesson: if you want your gadgets to be white for the rest of their lives, then you shouldn’t smoke. If you smoke in the same room as your gadgets, your gadgets will eventually become as yellow as your teeth.

Sunlight. People from the computer and video game industries are pale. There’s a reason for that. They work away from sunlight because heat from sunlight causes extra strain on electronics and the UV rays from sunlight will age and discolor the housings or casings of many electronic devices (in extreme cases, the housing or casing will crack or become brittle). So take it from the vampire Count: keep out of the sun!

Grime. I remember seeing this article in a magazine where there are more bacteria on the average person’s hand than on the rim of an average toilet bowl. That’s just gross. And that icky mix of dirt, dust, microscopic filth, oils, moisture, and stubborn little living critters… well, it can damage white surfaces, too. So even though you’re old enough to have gadgets, you still need to do what your elementary teachers said: wash your hands before and after playing!