We were much more use to undistracted time
Magazines, books, reading the backs of products, and sometimes people would even use a mirror or two to watch TV on the shitter.
I used to find some neat patterns in the wood grain on the back of the bathroom door.
Mad magazine, Nat Geo, or if all else fails, back of the shampoo bottle.
Presumably on a toilet.
Books.
Well, before phones made social media conveniently available, people largely had to deposit their shit via telephone, written word, or in person.
We read the backs of shampoo bottles.
I fully educated myself about tampon insertion and toxic shock syndrome during trips to the bathroom.
I got a degree in chemical engineering at Poop U.
We used to have words printed on paper (the pressed corpses of trees) called books, magazines, and newspapers. They’d bring one of those.
Bathroom books are absolutely a thing. My boomer aunt has dozens of Andy Capp booklets.
The hot fries guy?
I’m curious how old OP is. I still keep a book in the bathroom. It’s where I do most of my reading.
Farmers Almanac. Used to come with a pre-drilled hole for hanging on a hook in the outhouse.
Magazine racks. Every home had a small one next to the toilet
Video game instruction manuals
Spanish people stopped learning greek after smartphones where invented.
Tap for spoiler
We used to read shampoo bottles that where usually shipped in Spain with labels in four languages: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Greek. So it was always funny to try to see how things were written in greek while pooping.
I used to do that too! But living in Eastern Europe, our shampoo bottles had like twenty languages. I didn’t manage to learn any, but I did develop a sense of how closely related they were.
Magazines and we read the ingredient list of bottles, like bleech.
In our pants. Toilets came out around the same time as smartphones, so it’s been a pretty revolutionary couple of decades around here.
I had to poop really bad the other day. I had to make a run for it and didn’t have time to grab my phone first. I was in and out in like 2 minutes!
Pooping shouldn’t be a drawn-out process. You’re better off keeping your toilet time to less than 10 to 15 minutes, says Gregory Thorkelson, M.D., a psychiatrist in the department of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh.
In fact, you should only make your way to the bathroom when the urge hits.
If the urge to poop isn’t there, you might be tempted to push or strain to try to get the job done.
And all that straining could lead to the development of hemorrhoids—bulging blood vessels around your anus that can become swollen and painful or even bleed.
https://www.menshealth.com/health/a19521086/time-spent-pooping/
That seems, I’m not sure the word, but not correct. You can find a doctor (any professional) to say anything.
I bring my phone and keep a book in the bathroom because I’m NOT straining. I sit down, and while gravity is doing its thing to my guts, I read a chapter. I’m not rushing or pushing or popping hemorrhoids because I’m on my phone writing a stupid comment about pooping while pooping.
I don’t think Dr Greg knows how people are using their phones in the bathroom. People aren’t reading the back of shampoo bottles because they’re in a hurry.
That’s weird. I read comments in political posts because the straining from the rage really seems to help when i don’t have an urge at all.