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Back when we lived without phones, we used to read instruction labels on all and any household cleaning products that were stored in the bathroom. I bet there
by huhtenberg 1mo ago
Back when we lived without phones, we used to read instruction labels on all and any household cleaning products that were stored in the bathroom.
I bet there too was some obscure newspaper column that advised against that.
Yet, lo and behold, we survived!
- boobsbr 1mo agoI liked going to the bathroom on a friend's house because they had Heavy Metal magazines in the vanity cabinet.
- Revisional_Sin 1mo ago> Yet, lo and behold, we survived! The article isn't claiming it'll kill you...
- Citizen_Lame 1mo agoArticle isn't claiming anything substantial, it is in fact pointless.
- tsoukase 1mo agoMandatory thinking in the bathroom must be an ingrained behaviour in our DNA. It happens in very diverse cultures by people of every class.
- pjmlp 1mo agoThere were toilets with bookshelves with magazines and such, even. I really don't get this protective culture that seems so widespread in current times.
- b112 1mo agoIt's a bizarre take, too. I'll state it plainly, your hands are clean before you start to wipe yourself. As long as you put your phone aside, on the counter for example, it's as clean as if reading in an easy chair. And I'm doing it right now, reading this blog and this thread! Take that, blog author!
- scuderiaseb 1mo agoI think you’re missing the point. Back then we weren’t overstimulated overall due to constant internet access and smartphones. So reading in the bathroom wasn’t as bad. Back then you used to get a lot of opportunities to have breaks from stimulation, now the ’taking a shit’ break might be a good place to just not have any external inputs and just ponder.
- d4ng 1mo agoI still do this. The ingredient list of my hand soap is a page-turner. In The Netherlands, I found it quite common for there to be books or comics in the toilet. Mostly humorous. I never got a tummy bug from partaking in this.
- obruchez 1mo ago> we survived That shouldn't be the bar for most of what we do daily. We can also "survive" without doing any physical exercise. The question is: yes, we'll survive, but in which condition? i.e. is that healthy or not?
- thenthenthen 1mo agoI totally still do this! The random nonsense and just lists of ingredients make me relaxed.
- mrweasel 1mo agoWe learned Finish from the back of shampoo bottles.
- classified 1mo agoDid you mean Finnish?
- tartoran 1mo agoThat is a real phenomena for a chunk of the population but I'm trying to understand what it is. Is it ADHD?
- saghm 1mo agoIt might also have to do with how long someone tends to take. I tend to have a pretty slow metabolism and only need to defecate a couple times a week (to preempt any armchair diagnoses from people who think this is weirdly infrequent, every doctor I've had has always said this isn't a huge deal), so when I do, it tends to be in larger amounts. I've also found that it's better for me to take it slow and not strain as much, so sometimes I end up being on the toilet for more than just a couple minutes, which means that having something to do is nice. That said, I do also have ADHD, so maybe people who are "longer and slower" toiler-sitters like me without ADHD might be fine without a distraction.
- bitmasher9 1mo agoThe healthy range of frequency is roughly 3/day-0.3/day.
- bryanlarsen 1mo agoThat agrees with what my doctor said too. They also said that it's not the frequency that's concerning, but changes in frequency, especially if the frequency change cannot be explained by a radical change in diet.
- saghm 1mo agoFor whatever reason, I was fully expecting people to chime in telling me that this was less frequent than normal, since I've always had the perception that I'm an outlier on the end. Maybe the fact that this doesn't get discussed often made me assume too much about how much variance there is!
- throwup238 1mo ago
- otikik 1mo agoI read about ancient greek mithology
- bonsai_spool 1mo ago> Back when we lived without phones, we used to read instruction labels on all and any household cleaning products that were stored in the bathroom. Wow, I forgot that I used to do this! And I'd puzzle over whether any ozone was left with all the CFCs being emitted. But yes, the OP is very edgy take that totally ignores the existence of book/magazine baskets next to toilets. It's a huge plot point in Breaking Bad, for example. https://youtu.be/cXgg607wuis?t=35 https://youtu.be/cXgg607wuis?t=35 (Breaking Bad 'Hank Figures it Out')
- nwatson 1mo agoI've searched out this clip various times, gonna watch it again. Easily one of the best movie / TV moments since the advent of film.
- busymom0 1mo agoOn shark tank, this couple had a product which was basically a sand timer for pooping. Some sharks didn't invest in it because they thought pooping was one of the few times people get peace and let them do what they want.
- Loughla 1mo agoI'm certain that national geographic only exists in bathrooms. That's the reason we have a subscription. . . And my aunts and uncles and parents and cousins.
- throwawayffffas 1mo agoI had legit forgotten that hank figures it out on the toilet. Vince Gilligan truly made tv gold.
- elendilm 1mo agoThat brings back so many good memories that were forgotten.
- retired 1mo agoThe Dutch have a birthday calendar in the toilet room. And you can use the inspection shelf of the toilet to check for problems in your diet. Plenty of activities to do!
- epihelix 1mo agoPersonally, I just took a book in with me. (I thought everyone did, but apparently not.) Many share houses, when I was a student, put the film calendar for the local art house cinema on the back of the toilet door. It was the accepted place for it. Reading on the pot is a time-honoured tradition.
- recursivegirth 1mo agoMy grammy had a curated bathroom library. Usually those "1000 Odd Facts" type of books that you could pickup and flip through.
- duxup 1mo agoThe Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri manual was a personal favorite of mine.
- embedding-shape 1mo agoHeh yeah, as a kid/young adult I also stored all my strategy game manuals in the bathroom, back when they used to contain actual information and helpful stuff.
- unsupp0rted 1mo agoDon’t forget the SEARS catalogue
- WhyComboNadir 1mo agoOr National Geographic if you got sick of the Sears bra section
- deleted 1mo ago[deleted]
- xeon06 1mo agohttps://xkcd.com/1227/ https://xkcd.com/1227/
- Fnoord 1mo agoI used to take my laptop or Nokia N810 (remote shell over Wi-Fi with physical keyboard) with me to the bathroom. Nowadays there's cyberdecks, e-readers, ... Just imagine, there was a person on #debian reading and taking a dump. Just to reiterate: book good, e-reader bad. Phone good, smartphone bad. Scanning through a physical magazine good, doomscrolling TikTok bad. Except it is about focused vs. diffuse mode of brain, and usually people underappreciate the latter. E.g. walking during a lunch break, thereby getting inspiration for work, is working. The same can be true for taking a shower, sporting, staring outside at the landscape or stars, or meditating. It will also empower your focused mode later on. And, the author's point seems to be a toilet break is a decent opportunity for this. I agree. On my previous job, I regularly sat for 10-15 min in late morning, and it inspired me. But you cannot force people to not take a device with them to toilet. I mean, unless you're working for NSA or something. Don't judge such, look at total performance / efficiency per hour instead. Or per USD spend on the employee. As a former smoker, this is also what I appreciated about having a fag (in a time before smartphone and vape were common). Some missed the socializing. I hated that part. It seemed to be more like FOMO on gossip, little substance.
- hdgvhicv 1mo agoStack of old magazines - readers digest etc
- nerevarthelame 1mo agoMy family had dedicated bathroom reading that sat on the top of every toilet cistern. Usually something like a Far Side comic collection or an "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader."
- BLKNSLVR 1mo agoThere should have been a specific edition for toilet reading called The Fart Side.
- morkalork 1mo agoMy extended family still has some old copies of Reader's Digest compilations hanging around the bathroom. Edit: those books are basically the print version of reddit's front page of posts from r/interestingasfuck, r/todayilearned, r/MadeMeSmile etc.
- joezydeco 1mo agoIt seemed like Reader's Digest magazine existed solely for this purpose, if you grew up in the 60s-70s. Better form factor too.
- vishnugupta 1mo agoI used to take news papers and magazines and sometimes still do. So yes it’s perfectly fine.
- consumer451 1mo agoThe Dr. Bronner's label rabbit hole was a common occurrence. That's some crazy info on that soap bottle.
- Noaidi 1mo agoOh yeah, I used to get a huge dopamine rush reading what was in my toothpaste. Instagram feeds and not toothpaste tubes people.
- didsomeonesay 1mo agomy family's main study there used to be the TV program which came in - hard to believe now - weekly printed magazines.
- steve1977 1mo agoI read magazines or books.
- andrewshadura 1mo agoAlso in all sorts of languages. Czech, Slovak, Estonian, French, you name it. A gentle introduction into comparative linguistics :D
- freddyfloof 1mo ago”Ei saa peittää” is forever imprinted in me! One of the first memes I think I came across growing up. I remember both kids and grownups spontaneously just saying it. For many of us Swedes this was the one of the first and few Finnish sentences we ever learnt (it means ”Do not cover” and was printed on electric panel heaters in the bathroom).
- ramijames 1mo agoI don't know about you guys, but I kept a stack of books in the bathroom. I managed to get through a lot of books two or three pages at a time. I don't even know why I stopped.
- nashashmi 1mo agoOr those people who took magazines to the bathroom to read. But they all took a back seat from the one thing that followed them around!
- kotaKat 1mo agopre-AI I recall a little gag website based on that in ~2013! https://web.archive.org/web/20210612143916/http://backlabel.gr/ https://web.archive.org/web/20210612143916/http://backlabel.... Backlabel threw together a fake product name from a list and added in some warning symbols and various ingredient and instructions to give you some fake labels to read while you whizz away.
- mcphage 1mo ago> Yet, lo and behold, we survived! This is called survivorship bias. Sure, we survived—but that’s because you’re not including all of the bored people who died of reading instruction labels.
- BrandoElFollito 1mo agoI am glad I'm not the only one. At least in France there were traditionally stacks of cartoons as well (and some magazines)