Tech Tips for the Sandwich Generation! What to Do With A Wet iPod!

Thank you for sharing...

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post, which is at no additional cost to you. :)

Splash! SCREECH! SCREAM!!! If you guessed that another cell phone or iPod just hit the water, you’d be right. Every day, several times a day, someone drops these very handy, very expensive tools into the toilet…or the sink…or in my latest instance, they accidentally end up in the washing machine. And while water may be great for cute ducks, they are TERRIBLE on electronic/computer gizmos! It happens to all ages! For those of us in the Sandwich Generation, that can mean we end up consoling grandkids, adult kids, senior parents, and yes, even ourselves.

Is there any help? Any hope? Any encouragement? Believe it or not, there IS. It’s not 100%, but in my own extended family, we’ve seen it work three out of four times. Not bad odds, I must say! What is this miracle, you might ask. Would you believe – it’s RICE. Yup, the white stuff you cook and eat. I suppose it could be the brown stuff however that has the hull on it, so that might make a difference. We have only used the white rice. And be sure you DON’T cook it for this purpose. You want plain, uncooked white rice.  Pour it in a bowl, submerge the phone, iPod, etc. and just leave it for a day or longer. 

In case you don’t feel comfortable using rice – or want a more “techie” solution, we have also successfully used a cell phone drying kit that may be available in some stores in your area or from Amazon. Whichever route you take, I would suggest you invest in a package and just store it away. If you never need it, HOORAY. If, however, you accidentally wash your cell phone or mp3 player accidentally, on a Sunday, and discover it in the evening AFTER the stores have closed, you’ll be thrilled you planned ahead. The sooner you get your electronics gear submerged in the rice or the silica gel the better. As I said earlier, it’s not 100%, but it works often enough it’s definitely worth a try! 

And yes, the washing machine incident did just happen to me. My poor iPod has been submerged in rice for the past week. Since I did NOT take my advice to plan ahead, it did not get put into rice until the next morning. I just pulled it out today and HOORAY. It appears to be working well. By the way, it’s thanks to my senior mom you are hearing about this. She found it in my washer load when she was sweetly moving it into the dryer. Then she watched in total shock as I poured the bag of rice into the bowl and hid the iPod fully in the rice. After I explained it all to her, she said, “How wonderful! You MUST write about it and share it with others.” Another sweet joy of the Sandwich Generation. 🙂