We didn’t need another reason to put the phone down in the bathroom, but science gave us one anyway.

A new study in PLOS One has linked scrolling on the toilet to a higher risk of hemorrhoids. It’s a finding that feels both obvious and unsettling. After all, smartphones already come with a litany of health baggage: disrupted sleep, anxious moods, strained eyes, stiff necks. Now, apparently, hemorrhoids too.

What is it about these glowing rectangles that makes them such fertile ground for medical findings? The short answer: Phones aren’t just tools we use. They’re prosthetics of daily life – the gateway to nearly everything we do. We use them to work, order food, find a date, wind down before bed, and yes, even while in the bathroom. And because they’re everywhere, researchers have an endless laboratory.

As one expert – molecular geneticist Lotti Tajouri, PhD – put it, mobile phones are like “Trojan horses circulating in billions, each carrying hundreds and hundreds of microbes.” Though Tajouri is referring to microbial contamination (his area of research), the metaphor resonates more broadly. We welcome phones into our lives, and like the original Trojan horse, they carry hidden dangers – whether microbes, mental health impacts, exploding batteries, or any of the many smartphone-linked health risks.

The diversity of these dangers reflects the diversity of our dependence, experts say. When something seeps into so many parts of life, it multiplies the entry points for harm. Some smartphone health risks are obvious: eyestrain, text neck, insomnia from blue light. But the hemorrhoid study is a reminder that the physical effects can extend in unexpected directions. Long bouts of toilet scrolling keep people sitting far longer than nature intended. What once took five minutes now stretches to 20. That prolonged toilet time can lead to “potentially increasing pressure in anal tissues, which may then lead to hemorrhoids,” write the study’s co-authors.

Phones can also turn on us in more explosive ways. Lithium-ion batteries – the tiny, powerful engines that allow our devices to be slim and rechargeable – are volatile. A design flaw, faulty charging, or overheating can trigger a chain reaction that ends in smoke or worse, leading to burn injuries and, rarely, even death. This is why airlines now ban recalled devices and manufacturers issue emergency updates to throttle charging capacity.