WTF, growing up I read and always kept a book or magazine in the restroom. I fail to see the difference.
Don't use your phone while you poop
111–120 of 231 posts
Re: Don't use your phone while you poop
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personally, 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.
The Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri manual was a personal favorite of mine.
Heh 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.
Re: Don't use your phone while you poop
#113Back 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!
I 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.
Re: Don't use your phone while you poop
#114Back 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!
Stack of old magazines - readers digest etc
Re: Don't use your phone while you poop
#115If pooping is the only time you spend away from your phone, you're not spending enough time away from your phone.
Right. I actually do the inverse of the OP's advice. As much as possible, pooping is the ONLY time I use the phone. If the only time you budget for mindfulness is a couple minutes on the toilet, you're doing it wrong.
Same, on the golden throne is where 98% of my phone time is being spent, the other 2% is having to hold up the phone towards my hear to do that annoying "talk to another human being" thing. Otherwise during a normal day I barely touch my phone.
Re: Don't use your phone while you poop
#116Back 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!
My 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."
Re: Don't use your phone while you poop
#117This must be GenX version of boomers "you are poor because you buy coffees". I need my phone for work, not because of some addictive distraction. I do not do meditative "quiet reflection" on shitty toilet, I have nice space for that!
Using your phone to do work even in the bathroom is a strange brag
Re: Don't use your phone while you poop
#118Back 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!
I used to take news papers and magazines and sometimes still do. So yes it’s perfectly fine.
Re: Don't use your phone while you poop
#119Back in the day, old newspapers were used as toilet paper. It was a ceremony for my late cousin to cut the newspapers into blocks and neatly pack them in the outdoor toilet. You’d have a choice of some water from a bottle, and the old newspapers. A company of a few flies and no light. But when you went in there while the sun was out, reading whatever was on the cutouts was the obvious thing to do. Not just stare at the cracks in the wooden door in front of you.
Re: Don't use your phone while you poop
#120Back 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!
The Dr. Bronner's label rabbit hole was a common occurrence.
That's some crazy info on that soap bottle.