There are certain types of rubber/plastic that do this when they degrade, as others have mentioned. I had a small HDD with a rubberized coating on it and rubbing alcohol started to speed it's degradation and it was a horrific mess. I also had a rubber mallet from a discount tool store that started to stink so bad, and it too was sticky and degrading. And (oh, you thought I was done...) I had some small Rubbermaid totes that I purchased at Walmart over 15 years ago that started to feel greasy and sticky when I touched them. I washed all of them multiple times until I realized the plastic was not cured and was breaking down. At least those did not stink. They only lasted 1 year before that happened.

This is where the plastic eating bacteria evolved. Over the next few weeks cars fell apart, computer mice crumbled and civilization was no more. Even after the reemergence, people were sticky. The new generation doesnt know non-stickyness.

This reads like a Junji Ito story

Elevated adrenaline levels make your palms and fingertips sweat.

If you have access to some propranolol, try taking some.

If you don’t, ask a doctor for some.

Propranolol is a “beta blocker”, meaning it acts as an adrenaline antagonist.

A single dose or a few doses can break a cycle of adrenaline release.

This is what solved it when I suddenly had sticky hands all the time. My sticky hands lasted weeks until I did a bunch of deep dive reading on it. I don’t remember the research but I remember the solution: 20 mg propranolol, a few times.

If the Otterbox case had a rubberized coating on it to try to improve grip, and with it being 6 years old, there's a possibility it's the culprit. You could try ditching the case for a little while, and/or getting a new case and swapping them out, clean the surfaces again and see if you feel the stickiness again after handling your phone and other stuff.

However, often with those rubberized coatings, the degradation (when severe enough to feel sticky) is more immediately apparent and you'd be more apt to avoid touching anything else afterward. Also in my experience I don't recall it transferring to other surfaces much, but then again when I dealt with it I noticed ASAP and cleaned my hands right away.

What's the soap that car mechanics use? Gojo? It's like this gritty soap designed to get oil off of hands. Get some of that.

Horror writing prompt

I'd almost bet money it's the otterbox. If it's one of their older models, I would bet a small amount that's what it is if it could be an anonymous bet and a good way to confirm. I've had a few otterbox cases over the years, and the older ones always degrade and get sticky, and it transfers. Their newer ones and colored ones don't (or haven't yet anyway), but I've stopped buying them because of it.

You can't fix it, you just have to toss the damn things.

Yes, a degrading phone case can do that.

Likely unrelated, but after I've cut raw garlic cloves everything feels weird, almost sticky, no matter how much I wash my hands.

some sort of plastic or rubber is degrading, maybe my phone case?

There's this type of coating -- I commented on it a while back, will link to my comment in a sec -- that was put on a lot of consumer electronics that over time, breaks down to become sticky.

kagis

https://lemmy.world/comment/12199022

TPE, thermoplastic elastomers. They (some?) break down over time into really sticky goo.

I haven't seen it in some years -- was a real problem maybe, I dunno, ten years ago? If your thing is only six years old, I dunno if it's that.

But isopropyl alcohol and enough elbow grease will get it off, if it's just a coating on plastic.

I don't see anything when searching for "sticky otterbox", though, so I don't know if that's the factor, even if that's what's going on here. My experience that the source is pretty obvious, since it's a "grippy" rubberized thing that becomes increasingly-sticky over time.

I had a pair of speakers (studio monitors) with rubberized plastic on them that did this. It was truly maddening. My guess is it's something plastic/rubber like that. Your phone case is a good suspect, have you taken it off the phone and inspected it inside and out?

How is your heart?

I find my cat does this to my hands randomly. She gets this odd weirdness with her fur and my hands get sticky. I assume it's her anus juice after she cleans herself or whatever. 2 days later, she won't make my hands sticky. It's very weird.