# Do you bring reading material into the bathroom when using the toilet?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 24, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197 "2010-04-24T13:16:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/1 "2010-04-24T13:16:44Z")
Do you?
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### Author:  [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/2 "2010-04-24T13:18:05Z")
No. No, I don’t.
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### Author:  [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/3 "2010-04-24T13:27:57Z")
Not real books, no. That would be gross. There is often a magazine in there, referred to in this house as “crap mags”, because a) they’re crap and b) you only read them in the shithouse.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/4 "2010-04-24T13:28:48Z")
We’ve got a basket of magazines in there. It’s the only time they ever get read.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/5 "2010-04-24T13:29:41Z")
I have several books on the bathroom windowsill at all times. I also frequently take the A section or comic section of the newspaper into the bathroom for some light reading.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/6 "2010-04-24T13:46:36Z")
My parents always have a Reader’s Digest on the toilet tank. I grew up with that, and for me, anyway, any time over 5 minutes spent in there was just to finish an article and get some away time from the other people in the house.
Since I’ve lived by myself, though, (since 1993) there has been no reading material in my bathroom. I’m rarely in there for more than 3-5 minutes. I prefer to do my reading elsewhere!
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### Author:  [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/7 "2010-04-24T13:53:53Z")
Nowadays people just take their phones in there.
Yech.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/8 "2010-04-24T14:11:15Z")
We always have magazines and catalogs, and if we’re reading something it goes in with us, yes.
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### Author:  [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/9 "2010-04-24T14:24:04Z")
Heck yes. We have a rotating stack of books (usually **Pearls Before Swine** , **Get Fuzzy** , **Dilbert** , **Straight Dope** (heh), **Why Things Are** , or other books you can read a little bit of at a time) and, if there’s a book I’m reading, I’ll just read that. I don’t understand why people think it’s gross. It’s not like I’m getting fecal material on the book. But then, I have a fancy toilet system that doesn’t require me to get my hands all filthed up with toilet paper and whatnot.
Also, I bring books into the shower. Now that’s tricky…
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/10 "2010-04-24T14:39:59Z")
Mostly no because there is plenty already there. But If I am reading something at the time, definitely.
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### Author:  [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/11 "2010-04-24T15:13:41Z")
I said yes, because I always have something in there. That’s where I keep the “news” magazines. You know, the People, US Weekly, ect. I figure that’s the only place I won’t be seen reading it. 😉
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/12 "2010-04-24T15:14:13Z")
Yes but it never lasts that long. I mean, it never takes me more than a minute or so to poop, so I don’t get that far in the book.
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### Author:  [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/13 "2010-04-24T15:14:59Z")
> [@chorpler](#):
>
> Also, I bring books into the shower. Now that’s tricky…
Okay _this_ I gotta hear…
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### Author:  [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/14 "2010-04-24T15:30:02Z")
Book, mags, laptop, blackberry.
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### Author:  [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/15 "2010-04-24T15:30:57Z")
Why would it be gross to bring a book (or a phone) into the can?
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### Author:  [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/16 "2010-04-24T15:31:52Z")
Anything except cookery books.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/17 "2010-04-24T15:39:40Z")
I always have some kind of reading material in the bathroom. Right now there’s a book on the Mojave desert, AAA \*Via \*magazine, the CD booklet for _Ogdens Nut Gone Flake_, and an Orvis catalog.
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### Author:  [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/18 "2010-04-24T15:45:11Z")
Only if I’m ill and going to be there a while.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/19 "2010-04-24T15:49:38Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#):
>
> Why would it be gross to bring a book (or a phone) into the can?
I guess some people have the notion that everything in a bathroom is irredeemably contaminated with cooties or something.
Me, I have sufficient control over my bodily functions that the waste goes into the toilet in a reliable manner, and I put the book/magazine down prior to wiping. I also wash my hands, and clean the bathroom on a regular basis. But I guess some people have problems accomplishing the above.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-bring-reading-material-into-the-bathroom-when-using-the-toilet/537197/20 "2010-04-24T15:49:59Z")
_Bring_, no. There’s a bookshelf in there already!
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