toiletRemember the days of yore when your dad would shuffle into the bathroom with a newspaper tucked under his arm and an expression that told everyone to leave him the eff alone for a while? Yeah, well, apparently the 2012 New Yorker cartoon of this iconic scenario would replace the newspaper with a cellphone, 'cause people are takin' their mobiles into the john these days.

According to a survey, most Americans have taken their smartphones into the restroom with them at some point or another. Android owners are the apparently the biggest culprits, followed closely by BlackBerry folk, and iPhone users are in a semi-distant third. 

Everything from answering a call to full-blown online shopping has been committed while sitting on the throne, and while I guess this information is interesting, it's completely and totally revolting. And I don't think I'll ever borrow another person's phone again.

Taking the newspaper or a magazine into the bathroom is one thing -- they get thrown out. Bringing the thing that you, honestly, probably touch more than anything during the day into the bathroom is disgusting. The germs, the ... smell. Blech. Everything about it is gross. Truthfully, I don't even like bringing my phone into my bathroom at all -- even if I'm not using the toilet. They just seem like a device and a venue that never should meet.

And then there's the other issue. The issue that, aren't we on our phones enough already? I get the whole newspaper thing, because people don't necessarily have the time to sporadically read the paper throughout the day -- it's more cumbersome and time-consuming. The paper is sort of a luxury. And taking it into the bathroom with one's self connotes a type of "me time," if you will. I often associated such an act with the only 20 minutes my father got to himself during the day. A phone, though, is completely different. Like I said, we're on them constantly -- on the train, in our cars, when we're watching TV. Spending some alone time with your phone while you're pooping doesn't really seem necessary. You have enough time with it throughout the day.

And, dude, it's just really, really disgusting.

Do you ever take your phone into the bathroom with you?

 

Image via mrwynd/Flickr