r/spicypillows

Hi Spicy Pillow Legends, I need some help and full of anxiety right now and hoping you experts might have answers here.

On Sunday I pulled my old Google Pixel 8 out of storage, with intentions of wiping it clean to trade it in (along with my current phone) for a new one.

It was dead, so I plugged it in and left the room for a second (and stupidly left the phone on the carpet to charge).

This phone used to get hot and it had a glitchy screen, which was why I got rid of it early last year.

Anyways I come back to the room and notice the phone was very hot. I unplugged it and started erasing data to wipe it, while the screen glitched along the way.

Later that day I noticed my eyes were itchy and red though I assumed related to a sinus infection I'd just battled that I assumed was lingering.

Anyways, today I attempted to finish the phone wipe, so I plug the phone in again and put it on a damp wash cloth (I found this was the only my screen wouldn't glitch, not sure why), but now again thinking how stupid this was.

Then I started to smell what I can only describe as a "warm electronics smell" like when we were kids and had the N64 or Play Station on for way too many hours.

I unplugged it. A few mins later my wife walked into the room and I asked her if she could smell anything and she said no.

Fast-forward to tonight and my eyes are even itchier and red and my throat hurts.

I'm afraid I breathed in some kind of toxic fumes from the old Google Pixel 8 as it overheated and MAYBE toxic chemicals released through the phone?

I asked ChatGPT and they gave me conflicting answers, "no, you'd notice the chemical smell, it is unmistakable," and "yes, it overheated and released VOCs at the very least, if not toxic chemicals and it irritates your throat and eyes." It also told me to rewash all the clothes that were in that room (it's an office / laundry room).

I'm worried as well as my toddler son and toddler daughter soon after walked in.

Any expert knowledge here would be great. Mad at myself, but simply wanted to wipe the phone and thought it was safe but scared I subjected myself to very dangerous toxic fumes.