Mobile Internet Use Thriving -- In The Toilet

from the not-really-too-surprising-really dept

Tue, May 29th 2007 6:39am — Carlo Longino

Last year, a study said that a third of British people made phone calls while naked, and another found that nearly 4 out of 10 Americans thought it was okay to talk on the phone while in the bathroom. These, of course, came after a 2005 study that found half of WiFi users have surfed the net from inside the can. Building on all three of those is a new survey from T-Mobile in the UK, which says that 15 percent of the UK adult workforce "hides" in the bathroom to go online with their mobile phones, apparently mostly to get around their employers' bans or restrictions on using the web. Apparently there's quite an audience of web users inside bathrooms; when will crafty entrepreneurs start doing more to capitalize on this captive market?

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24 Comments

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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 29 May 2007 @ 7:15am

Bathrooms Gone Wild (TM)
That would be a live webcast that a lot of teenagers would find hilarious.
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Chronno S. Trigger, 29 May 2007 @ 8:05am

The iToilet
or the old SNL skit the iCrap.

I have a PSP, a Samsung Q1 (vary small tablet), and a web enabled cell phone. I can't say that I have ever even thought about surfing while otherwise occupied.
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Cixelsid, 29 May 2007 @ 8:12am

Great
From now on I will always answer my phone with the phrase "You'd better not be naked or on the crapper"
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Anonymous Coward, 29 May 2007 @ 8:15am

I wonder what percentage of these people have dropped their cells into the toilet.

The resulting imagery amuses me.
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- Shred303, 29 May 2007 @ 8:18am
  
  Re:
  How about a boyant more water proof device?
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PleaseWash, 29 May 2007 @ 8:17am

Santization
With the apparently huge popularity of using the phone on the John, there has to be a market for some kind of mobile device sanitizer. First you wash you hands then you sanatize your phone; and how about a more handy way to mute your device so you can avoid that akward 'Did you just flush the toilet?' question.
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I surf while I go!!, 29 May 2007 @ 8:21am

Need a noise filter to filter out the range of the bowl flushing
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Sanguine Dream, 29 May 2007 @ 8:29am

Creep factor
I still cringe over the first I spoke to someone while they were in the bathroom. It's not like I called her and went to the bathroom while talking. Oh no she called me while she was still in there. And the freaky part is that I didn't even know it until she flushed. But then curiosity kicked it and I starting thinking about the odd sounds I heard while talking to her and after thinking I came to realize that I was hearing her use toilet paper.

This is like employers thinking you should be there to answer your mobile phone 24/7/365. There are just times when you need to handle your business alone.
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freak3dot, 29 May 2007 @ 8:31am

Re:
Note to self: install ethernet jack in the bathrooms.
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Terschinbrae, 29 May 2007 @ 8:33am

Nekkidness
Until videophones (mobile or otherwise) hit mainstream, I fail to see how being naked is of any importance when on the phone. Unless I out and out tell the other party "I'm in the buff right now", they'll never know, and it'll have no effect on the conversation. Why must one be clothed to use the telephone?
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Mr. Suave, 29 May 2007 @ 9:12am

Love it
For everyone out there who sits on the can takin a dump or whichever there doing, I think it relaxes ones mind to have a conversation. It's quiet, you can concentrate on the other end, unless your having issues trying to get things out. But none-the-less it's where I do 80% of my personal phone calls.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 May 2007 @ 9:29am

First off, they make hand sanitizer wipes...so, just use that on the phone.

Second, during work, I would rather carry my phone in my pocket to the john to get my news (via mobile web) then carry a newspaper in. Everyone who sees that newspaper knows exactly where i'm heading and what i plan to do. Phone is more discreet.

As for talking on the phone in the bathroom...I've done it, but gone to great lenghts to make sure that the other party didn't know where I was.
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OKVol, 29 May 2007 @ 9:36am

I remember a contest for the worst place to use a
The winner was a real estate agent taking a call in the stirrups at her gynecologist office.
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Wyatt, 29 May 2007 @ 9:39am

Wow
I find it somewhat annoying to find someone sitting on the toilet talking on the phone. Not only are they broadcasting their own bathroom music, but mine as well. Bathrooms are private places to let loose without distraction. I can see reading news on a phone, but talking on the phone, no way. That really is just wrong. I have a hard time concentrating with someone in the next stall, let alone while talking on the phone or listening to someone else talk on the phone. Ugh...
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Anonymous Coward, 29 May 2007 @ 10:24am

all i hear is
tap tap tappity tap :)
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James, 29 May 2007 @ 11:16am

How 'bout...
...a gurgling or gassy sounding ring tone? This way if you are dropping off the kids and the phone rings, no one will know. :-p

Meanwhile... I'm registering: surfingpornwhiledroppingoffthekids.com
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gadget girl, 29 May 2007 @ 11:35am

when the call really matters...
I'll admit, I've answered the phone while on the toilet... usually only when expecting a call (any job-hunter knows not to miss the call-back for a 2nd interview!) But for goodness sakes! Flush after you hang up, unless its someone you WANT to gross out.
As for surfing the web... maybe the toilet-stall companies could install a device on the door that takes quarters or credit, has a 15" touch-screen, with sanitizing wipe dispenser (we KNOW where those fingers have been!) Then people could browse larger, and still get that, "I'm sneaking away from my work into the lavatory" ambience. Not to mention... profits when the employees surf the web! Say profits, and someone'll do it.
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Charles Griswold, 29 May 2007 @ 12:00pm

Naked phone calls
Last year, a study said that a third of British people made phone calls while naked
If they made naked phone calls on their VideoPhone (tm), that might be newsworthy.

and another found that nearly 4 out of 10 Americans thought it was okay to talk on the phone while in the bathroom
Errr, yeah. If you're just wandering into the bathroom to get an aspirin, then OK. If you're doing your business, then please wait until you're done to call me.
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Able-X, 29 May 2007 @ 2:08pm

in the can
I make it a point to be extra loud if I'm in the crapper and someone is talking on the phone. You never know, it could be someone's CEO on the other end of that conversation, so I figure I'll give them something to talk about :)
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Anonymous Coward, 29 May 2007 @ 3:40pm

"captive market" hehe
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Nick, 29 May 2007 @ 7:07pm

This is how ya' do it
When I am at home I say screw it and take my whole laptop with me or my ipod and at school during lunch I take my cell phone for the news, I can use the phone to add critical bits to the assortment of sounds herd in the can. It is actualy quite entertaining and you can go the extra mile to take notes to figure out what works to eek people for the next time. I have never used the phone while in the bathroom, first because the opertunity has never come up, and second because I am using my phone for other things and talking on it will throw off my timeing.
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- Nick, 29 May 2007 @ 7:09pm
  
  Re: This is how ya' do it
  I am not crazy and the lot of you are cowards.
  
  I highly sugest going insaine and coming hafe way back
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joe, 29 May 2007 @ 7:09pm

online in the can
I read the news online on my phone when I am on the throne. It is much more entertaining than reading the back of the lysol can again.
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mdf, 31 May 2007 @ 10:00am

surfing in the can
...study that found half of WiFi users have surfed the net from inside the can.
Hell, that's what WiFi is for.
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