Contrary to popular belief, toilet scrolling has little if anything to do with the excessive use of toilet paper. Rather, it refers to the use of a smartphone whilst sitting on the toilet.
If your first thought was “how revolting,” you may be in the minority. Multiple surveys have shown that anywhere from 50% to 90% of people use their smartphones while in the W.C. A 2020 survey found that half of the adults living in the United Kingdom take their mobile phones to the toilet, with a small percentage admitting to taking either their tablets or game consoles with them. This isn’t even that new: A 2012 survey, the Daily Mail said, found that approximately 75% of people in Britain had this filthy habit, and a more recent YouGov survey found that at least 57% of people in the United States regularly imdulge.
One thing is clear: People have trouble leaving their devices behind, even when entering the hallowed halls of the bathroom, loo, powder room, privy, restroom, or water closet.
[Editor’s note: The term privy comes from the word “private,” implying a private place for sharing secrets or thoughts, and the word “loo,” which is an informal yet polite British term for toilet, can be traced back to Medieval Europe, when chamber pots had to be emptied from bedroom windows onto the street below. In the course of doing this, they would cry out the French phrase “guardez l’eau,” which was in turn shortened to “loo” over several centuries.—BA]
The current addiction to screens largely revolves around distracted driving while engaged in texting, the potential risk of RF exposure, and the overall addictive nature of screens.
When people use their smartphones, their brains release a small amount of dopamine. Dopamine motivates them to take action and each time the device dings or blurts, a Pavlovian response occurs and we check the device if we weren’t on it already. The problem is that the dopamine boost is temporary and leads to a letdown. Our brains want more dopamine and that results in a vicious cycle in which we continuously check our devices. Even in places we shouldn’t.
The risk of microbial infection from the use of one’s smartphone – as well as the risk of chronic back pain – is less appreciated but it’s just as real.
In a 2021 study, researchers at the University of Arizona found that mobile phones carry ten times more bacteria than the typical toilet seat.
Aside from the contamination of the smartphone with fecal matter, the act of using the smartphone when in the W.C. is not the problem. Rather, sitting on the toilet for prolonged periods of time can lead to multiple issues including back pain and hemorrhoids.
Because of the way one’s body is positioned on the toilet, the body’s weight shifts to the lumbar spine, which in turn can lead to the narrowing of spinal canals through which nerves pass. This can lead to the compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve as it travels down to your leg, for example or mere lower lumbar discomfort.
In short, the modern toilet is an object that one must awkwardly sit on, in the case of toilet scrolling, for extended periods of time. Once on it, it isn’t an ideal seated position either as it compresses the area of your glutes where your sciatic nerve resides. In addition, the posture many people assume once seated – some form of a hunched position – is injurious as well and causes back strain.
Furthermore, the increased strain on one’s rectum and anus can lead to hemorrhoids and fissures.
The fix is simple: To borrow a quote from the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton,” “Sit less, smile more,” with apologies to Aaron Burr and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
In addition, here is, however, a very simple step one can take that will eliminate the microbial risk and significantly reduce if not eliminate back and nerve pain, namely to park one’s smartphone at the door. Just as in the Pentagon and White House, where mobile devices must be stored in containers outside secure spaces, smartphones should be left outside the W.C.
If back pain is a chronic issue, there are several steps one can take. The use of a raised toilet seat can reduce the pressure felt by your back when sitting down or getting up as can a handrail next to the commode. In addition, be conscious of your posture as, biomechanically speaking, a slouched posture makes moving one’s bowels more difficult.
Finally, a toilet foot stand that fits around the base will force the body to be in a squatting position, which is how much of the world moves its bowels. Having one’s feet and knees elevated will compress the abdomen and improve posture and also relax the anus.
Finally, it pays to mention that the New York City Department of Health is currently warning people to wash their hands with extra care after using the toilet to stop the Shigella germ. Shigellosis is an infection of the intestines caused by Shigella bacteria that is spread when an individual inadvertently puts something in his mouth that has touched infected feces or drinks food or water contaminated with the bacteria.
(Photos: Accura Media Group)
All Rights Reserved Travel