Do I need to worry about using my phone while sitting on the toilet? Experts weigh in.

For many people, smartphones have replaced a stack of magazines next to the toilet. But while scrolling and squatting may seem like just another way to multitask, some experts say there's good reason — two main good reasons, actually — to keep your little screen out of the bathroom.

Too much time on the porcelain throne can impact your health

When you scroll through your smartphone while on the toilet, you're "sitting on the toilet for way longer than you should," says Dr. Joyce Park, dermatologist at Skin Refinery and creator of the Tea With MD blog, who recently had a video go viral on this very subject.

"The shape of the toilet seat is sloped downwards, designed to increase pressure to assist with bowel movements," she explains. But too much pressure isn't a good thing, as it puts you at risk of developing hemorrhoids, which are swollen and inflamed veins around the rectum or anus.

"We all have these veins in our lower rectal-anal area in the lower gastrointestinal tract," says Dr. Harika Balagoni, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wis. "But when you sit on the toilet for too long, especially if you have obesity or are pregnant, then these veins start to bulge or get bigger, and that's when you develop hemorrhoids."

Nathan Price, the chief scientific officer of Thorne HealthTech, tells Yahoo Life that using your phone while on the toilet "often means leaning forward or looking down," and that this posture can "affect the angle of the rectum, making it more challenging to pass stool and increasing the risk of incomplete evacuation." According to Balagoni, an "incomplete evacuation" occurs when "you have a bowel movement, but you don't feel like you've emptied completely." That can be a problem because it increases the amount of time you're on the toilet, as well as may lead to chronic constipation, adds Price.

In general, it's better to spend less time on the toilet — a good reason for people to try altering their angle, says Price, as with a footstool or "squatty potty," in order to have a more efficient bowel movement.

Your phone can harbor lots of bacteria — more than you want in a bathroom

Optimal gut health is not the only reason why you may want to avoid bringing your phone into the bathroom. Such a habit can also increase the amount of bacteria you're carrying around with you. One study, for example, found that your cellphone may have 10 times as much bacteria as the average toilet seat.

It can get even filthier in the bathroom, because when you flush, the bowl releases a "toilet plume" of microscopic fecal particles and anything else you left behind. While it's unclear exactly how far a toilet plume can travel, you might just want to close the lid before you flush, which helps a lot (though not completely), as a 2005 study in the Journal of Applied Microbiology found that microorganisms reached a height of nearly 3 feet after a toilet was flushed.

Still, you need not be totally freaked out about the bacteria on your little screen — after all, as Price says, "we generally have strong immune systems, and our bodies are resilient for a long period of time, in most cases." But it is possible you may be spreading unwanted germs because of how you handle your phone in these moments.

"You don't clean your phone after [using the toilet], so it's kind of like not washing your hands. You're at a risk of transmitting something from yourself to someone else. You splash and you make aerosols, and you contaminate your phone, and then your phone recontaminates your hands," Dr. Sheldon Campbell, professor of pathology at Yale University and a microbial expert, tells Yahoo Life. "It's really more of a concern for other people than the phone user, because you don't catch stuff from yourself, you catch stuff from other people."

This is particularly important if you are sick. If you have, say, the stomach flu, you may be great about washing your hands to not infect the other people in your household. However, touch your phone after using the toilet and you may be reinfecting your hands all over again.

Realistically, however, "the world is covered with a thin layer of stool," says Campbell. "You are trying to protect yourself from contamination in bathrooms and other places with good handwashing practice and things like that, and your phone is a potential breach."