It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and the anticipation is palpable. I can’t speak for Baltimore, but on my recent trip to San Francisco, I realized I had never seen such a large congregation of people all wearing a single team’s merchandise. But all the excitement of the big game, combined with quite a bit of alcohol, actually makes for a relatively dangerous situation for your phone.
In fact, a new report from SquareTrade (a company that offers extended warranties for smartphones) claims that 27 percent of Ravens fans have dropped and damaged their phones in the past 12 months, while 23 percent of 49ers fans have had an accident.
According to the study, Ravens fans are actually more at risk of damaging their smartphones or tablets during the big game; SquareTrade says they are 14 percent clumsier than their Super Bowl counterparts in San Francisco.
Of all the spectator-sports-related accidents coming through SquareTrade’s protection-plan system, 18 percent of phone drops are what the firm calls “liquid drops,” meaning the phone ends up in the toilet, a puddle of spilled beverage, etc. Shockingly, 13 percent of all drops are phones plopped into beer. Just goes to show that drunkenness and gadget operation do not go hand-in-hand.
Followed shortly behind that, 12 percent of all spectator-sport accidents happen during a fit of rage or passion, where a device is straight up thrown across the room.
In other words, put your phone on a table somewhere away from all the chaos. That’s the best way to ensure that a touchdown, spilled beer, or fit of rage doesn’t leave your smartphone hurting after a big hit.