@livelaughlove21 – The older Otterbox cases that had plugs to seal the charger and headphone ports and any buttons were fairly water-resistant, so a quick dunk is unlikely to have done major harm. But most electronics can survive a splash or brief immersion – my ex dropped his uncovered flip phone (before the iPhone came out) in the toilet a couple times, and we just pulled it apart to dry it off, and didn’t even know about the bag of rice trick back then, and it still worked. I have patients who forget that their hearing aids are on when they get in the shower, and again just opening it up, removing the battery and letting it dry is all that is typically needed for such a short exposure.
But if one wants the best protection, waterproofing will allow the device to be submerged for more than a few seconds and deeper than a foot below the surface (as water pressure makes a difference, too). As I said, I’ve seen people who deliberately take the Lifeproof covered iPhone under water in the pool and ocean for taking photographs. So for someone who is active in watersports, I think the Lifeproof case is worth the peace-of-mind.