Two thirds of bathroom-breaks are now being accompanied by technology, research has revealed. A study of 2,000 adults has revealed that over a third will bring their phone with them to the toilet, playing games, texting friends or pinging e-mails to co-workers.
In fact, a surprising one in eight of all those surveyed will regularly have a tablet to hand when using the restroom- probably how 10% keep up with sports (watching or listening live) and 4% regularly watch films each time they grace the porcelain throne.
And while 16% are happy just playing games on their phone, 1 in 20 need the full gaming experience and will take a handheld device (3DS or PSP) along with them.
The research was commissioned by Cuticura Anti Bacterial Hand Wash, and queried 2,000 men and women on their bathroom habits, looking at their hygiene and apparent hyper-dependence on technology.
Their spokesperson commented on the findings:
“Bathroom breaks have evolved; rather that newspapers and crossword books, we’re opting for smart phones and iPads to keep us occupied.
“The study revealed that men are more likely to need a distraction, but it seems both men and women are reluctant to be parted from their gadgets, even when nature calls!
“However, to prevent the spread of unwanted bacteria, we still need to wash our hands and regularly clean gadgets such as mobile phones.”
Men are, as the spokesperson commented, unsurprisingly the more likely to embrace their tech on the toilet- 70% responded as such, compared to 57% women.
The ladies however were more likely to be the ones having a natter, with a nearly a quarter ringing or texting someone, and 10% checking their Facebook or Twitter.
Others just preferred their music- 10% would opt for an ipod or radio to occupy their time.
The findings came as Cuticura looked into ever-changing bathroom habits- surprisingly, men are now becoming just as hygienic as women, but half of people still don’t always wash their hands when they go to the toilet- not great for touchscreen technology.
Even worse is that one in eight people under the age of 24 claim they NEVER bother to wash their hands after going to the toilet- those poor, poor keypads.
Their spokesperson continued:
“There is often a common perception that men are less competent when it comes to keeping themselves at a good standard of hygiene, but these results show that isn’t the case.
“Of course, there will always be a difference in opinions between genders, things like wearing underwear more than once (40% of men do this often) will always be open to debate, but it’s encouraging to see that people are taking fewer risks, cleaning their hands more regularly and living as cleanly as they can”.
