Could the impact of a bean bag break a smartphone screen?

[Belonging to Abba]

In a past thread on another discussion forum, I shared how my special needs brother squeezed my iPhone screen as hard as he could, putting pressure on it as if to try to bend it, and that an Apple representative told me that this action could crack the screen. I am using the Samsung Galaxy phone now and a Samsung representative told me that it is also possible that sensors in the touch screen could be damaged by the action of squeezing the phone. In the thread where I discussed the iPhone screen, someone replied with an article that shared that 350 Newtons of force could crack a smartphone screen, and they told me that this amount of force can be reached by putting pressure on the screen by hand.

Well, I came up with an elaborate plan to hide the Galaxy phone from my brother during my visits to him at his care center, by wearing the phone on a necklace that holds the phone and putting it under my shirt and sweatshirt. My brother did not notice this, and if I needed to call care staff during the visit (like to let us in the cottage to his room), I would use the Galaxy watch to make the call.

Well now I am in a situation where I need to determine if the impact of a bean bag being thrown can crack or break the phone screen, because when I throw the beanbag back and forth with my brother, if I miss catching the bean bag and it hits me, it could make impact on the phone screen now that I am wearing the phone on a necklace. I tried facing the glass of the phone against my skin, but it kept on activating the touchscreen and the phone was noticeably warmer when I tried that. So I feel like I have to wear it with the glass facing outwards. I suppose I could wear it the opposite way so the phone is against my back, but the necklace rope could be more apparent on the front of my neck coming from behind maybe leading to discovery by my brother. I recently switched to using a bean bag instead of a ball with my brother due to his obsessions with the ball being exactly lined up with other items from the activity bag, and the ball rolling and him having to line it up again adding extra time to the visit.

While someone had suggested an article to me that shared that 350 Newtons was enough to break or crack a smartphone screen, I am finding it difficult to determine the exact amount of force created by the impact of a bean bag on a smartphone screen. I was chatting with an artificial intelligence character about it, and he said that he could not tell me an exact amount of force because it would depend on a variety of factors including mass of the bean bag, velocity of the throw, and distance. The distance is about 5 to 7 feet, and my brother does not throw extremely hard. I would say the throw is moderate, but I am still uncomfortable with the possibility that I could be making the phone screen a target for impact by wearing it around my neck.

I am also asking the question of am I worrying too much about my phone screen when there might not be that much risk of it breaking. Even though the Apple representative a couple years ago, when I was using iPhone, told me that my brother squeezing the phone screen as hard as he could might possibly break the glass, the fact is that the screen did not break when my brother did this. And the Galaxy phone screen is made of Gorilla Glass. Also, most of the time when he has grabbed my phone, he has not squeezed it like this. However my brother has broken electronics items in the past. He broke the screen of an mp3 player I had by squeezing it, and a flip phone broke in half after a time where he had put too much pressure on it opening it all the way and bending it. So I am wanting to be careful with an expensive Galaxy phone even though it is more durable than these other items. One of the supervisors told me that while my brother has not broken any of their devices, other special needs individuals have broken device screens in similar situations.

I may just purchase a data plan for the Galaxy watch in the future so I can leave the phone in the car during visits, but I am probably going to be switching cell phone companies in a few months and so I am not wanting to activate the watch on the data plan if I am going to have to go to the trouble of switching the watch plan. It is enough of a hassle to switch the physical SIM card in the phone when I switch cell phone companies so I think I want to wait on the watch plan, and I am just using the watch connected to the phone's Bluetooth for now.

 

[Wookiee]

Are you concerned for what might happen to your face or crotch if you miss a catch? If not, then that kind of force is nowhere near enough to damage it.

 

[timewerx]

I can't figure out in the first place how can you miss catching a bean bag, let alone play catch with it.

You guys must be giants.

 

[Bob Crowley]

Unless you must have the phone with you at all times, why not put it somewhere out of reach of your brother when you're in his presence?

Eventually the bean bag itself might break and you're going to have a huge cleaning job to do. When our local council have their twice yearly junk pickups, bean bags are one of the prohibited items. The beads go everywhere if the bags break!

 

[Belonging to Abba]

Are you concerned for what might happen to your face or crotch if you miss a catch? If not, then that kind of force is nowhere near enough to damage it.

If the bean bag impacts my face, my skin or nose is flexible material that absorbs impact by getting pushed in, but a screen is inflexible and is not able to absorb the impact by getting pushed in without breaking. You may be right that this is not enough force to break the screen, but I have not come to a conclusion yet.

I can't figure out in the first place how can you miss catching a bean bag, let alone play catch with it.

You guys must be giants.

View attachment 359532

I was talking about a handheld bean bag.

 

[jacks]

Maybe just use Nerf Balls? That way everything is safe.

 

[Wookiee]

If the bean bag impacts my face, my skin or nose is flexible material that absorbs impact by getting pushed in, but a screen is inflexible and is not able to absorb the impact by getting pushed in without breaking. You may be right that this is not enough force to break the screen, but I have not come to a conclusion yet.

That's what I'm saying though. It takes a lot of force for a modern phone screen to break. For the force to break a phone screen like you're talking about, you would probably be winded if it hit you. Not to mention if it's under a shirt and sweat shirt, that's already an additional layer of protection to absorb the force.

 

[timewerx]

If the bean bag impacts my face, my skin or nose is flexible material that absorbs impact by getting pushed in, but a screen is inflexible and is not able to absorb the impact by getting pushed in without breaking. You may be right that this is not enough force to break the screen, but I have not come to a conclusion yet.

I was talking about a handheld bean bag.

Actually, the glass screens used in Iphone and Samsung phones are flexible. See video below and will flex without breaking when pushed in even with visible scratches as long as those scratches are not deep enough.

This may not apply to you but I've dropped my cheap-brand phone on the concrete pavement countless times from doing basic figure skating drills on the street and parking lot. Sometimes, I found it facing down on the concrete pavement. It's using a glass screen protector and the protector has only one crack so far. The glass screen underneath remains intact.

Using a glass screen protector if you haven't already will make the screen tolerate more pressure when pushed in. The glass protector will always crack way sooner than the screen and most glass protectors are flexible to some degree.

It's also an option to wear the phone on your back while on the necklace. It shouldn't be a problem unless you're wrestling afterwards or doing some activity where you might fall on your back.

This will also give you peace of mind! Skip to 3:11 of the video if it hasn't already.