I wanted to have more granularity on the more “normal” end of the scale. Since people don’t sit with stopwatches, and everybody is just estimating and averaging, more choices allows a little more precision. For people who have no clue how long it takes, the final option is a suitable catchall.
I’m pretty sure the time people take to pee is not nearly as variable. But I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting “Less than 1 minute” to be the majority with a roughly descending graph from there. I figured 4 - 5 minutes would be the norm.
Though it was maybe obvious to some, I stand in awe of the collective power of Dopers’ bowels.
I’m glad you mention that, because I was thinking I should have worked gender into it. I’ve always had the impression that women were generally much faster than men. (But that’s about the only thing in the bathroom they’re generally faster at, IME.)
I think the time surrounding dropping a load is not accounted. The first thing I thought upon reading the poll was whether the question means just the poop coming out part, or the whole process. I’m under 3 minutes when counting from shutting the door to opening the door. The actual pooping part is under a minute, and that’s my answer, because it seems a strict interpretation of the question is how long it takes to poop, not the time in the bathroom.
Growing up, my family seemed to use “poop time” as “get away from everybody for a bit time,” because no one would bother you in the bathroom. Take a book in there, peruse the Reader’s Digest that was always on the back of the commode. It wasn’t unusual for someone to be in there for 20 minutes. My parents (Dad, I’m looking at you) don’t seem to take nearly as long in there these days now that it’s just the two of them, and I haven’t read anything while on the commode since I moved out decades ago.
No idea, but fairly quick most of the time. On the other hand, when I was younger, I’d sometimes take a book in with me, get absorbed in it, finish my bidness and lay in the floor reading for half an hour after.
That is the impression that I get from looking at the poll results (I voted according to this logic), and nobody should take more than a minute for a bowel movement; most of mine come out in seconds (if you just count the part where it is actually coming out), even the harder ones take less than a minute (no straining, at least not to get it out as fast as possible). The wiping up part is probably the most variable; sometimes I wipe and the toilet paper is practically clean, other times I wipe and wipe and it seems to never stop coming (usually more towards one to a few wipes).
Presumably, the people who selected much longer times, excluding the “see a doctor…” one (an hour is unbelievable though), included the total time needed to prepare and clean up.
I love reading and relaxing when dropping the brown kids off at the pool. I take my time, finish a few pages in a magazine, or win a few games in Tetris against the computer at level 5 on the Nintendo DS.
IBS is hard to treat and fiber only helps, my friend.
Maybe there’s a tendency (meaning not all of you) of 1 minuters to be the types who are busy all the time and in a rush, so want to get out and washing takes time. Also, the only times I’ve had skid marks were as a child or when I’m sick. I don’t feel that anyone can get clean with just a few quick wipes.
They don’t call you “Lurker at the Threshold” for nothing! Although I shudder to know what comes out, but imagine it involves screaming.
FWIW, I seldom linger after the initial bombs are dropped. There may be (and indeed, often is) additional ordnance in the bomb bay, but I’m not going to force the issue. If it’s not coming out, then I’ll make a trip again later.
When I answered about a minute, I wasn’t counting the time it takes to unbutton my pants and get them down, or to get them back up and get my clothes situated, or to wash up afterwards. I only counted active poop time, which is very short.
