Contagion by Telephone: Victorian-Era Health ScareHow early phones were seen as a genuine plague-spreader.

From the show

Historically Bad Advice

Discover the forgotten public health crisis when people feared catching diseases like tuberculosis from a simple phone call. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the telephone mouthpiece was considered a dangerous object capable of transmitting deadly infections. This fear sparked medical debates and public anxiety, reflecting a society grappling with both new technology and evolving germ theory.