After Seeing This I Think The World Has Become Insanely Germaphobic

I think we're taking this cleanliness thing a little too far now. The world seems so worried about getting germs that I'm surprised we aren't all walking around in plastic bubbles. 

After washing my hands in the restroom at a restaurant over the weekend with the touch- free water faucet and touch-free paper towel dispenser, I went to grab the door handle and saw a notice above it with a diagram. It said "Touch-Free Handle." At first I thought there was no way you can open a door without grabbing a handle, so then I examined the handy directions more closely.

So I'm supposed to make a fist, put my hand behind the handle and pull. This way I can avoid all those nasty germs on the handle of the door from all those people who didn't wash their hands. Seriously?

I think the internet has put the fear into people with their reports of just what kind of germs are on everything in the world. This door handle is going overboard.

Germs are everywhere and you can't avoid them. You just can't. You will get sick eventually if you touch the door handle or not, and quite frankly you just look silly if you use the door handle like this suggests.

Dr. Steven Weisholtz, M.D., chief of infectious diseases at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey says that avoiding touching the door handle is “...probably doing something, but not as much you might think.”

The door handle is one of millions of things covered with germs in the world, like lots of things you need to touch to get on with your day.

So go ahead and look silly if it makes you feel better. I'm grabbing the handle. With both hands.

Do you think the world has become too germaphobic? Would you use this touch-free handle the way it was meant to be used? How far do you go to avoid germs? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter.