This post applies to those with Blackberries and Android phones as well. The user of a Windows phone is a fictitious character, like centaurs, fairies, and honest politicians, and therefore I will make no more mention of him.
I’m a news/information junkie. News about politics, economics, people lifting burning cars off motorcyclists–it doesn’t matter, I read it all. I read Drudge, CNN.com, KSL.com (for local Utah news), Wired, LewRockwell.com, WSJ.com, Real Clear Politics, Deseret News (also local), SLTrib (local again), Politico, and then of course whatever people are posting on Facebook/Twitter/etc. Where do I fit it in? Wherever I can. I’m reading news whenever I’m waiting in line somewhere, filling a cup of water at the fridge, at the dentist’s, riding in someone’s car, playing with the kids at the park, listening to my lawyer tell me I’m being sued, and yes, while in the bathroom.
I think it’s good to be informed about general goings-ons. But I got to thinking that perhaps I had taken it too far. So I tried an experiment the past few weeks. The question was “How much reading of books could I get done if I didn’t take my phone in the bathroom?” I put a book in each bathroom in our house, and instead of reading news on my phone, or answering emails (yes, if you’ve received an email from me there’s a decent chance it was sent while I was on the throne), I read whatever book I put in the restroom. At the moment upstairs I’ve got Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steven Blank. Downstairs I’ve got Why Work Sucks by Cali Ressler and Jodi Thompson.
The results? No, not hemorrhoids. Based on my results, I estimate that if one reads books instead of their phone in the bathroom, they could read 2-3 books per month. Now, once again, it’s not that there is anything wrong with reading news, but would you rather have read all the news you read last month on the toilet, or would you rather have read 2-3 books? I think I can get enough news without taking it into the lavatory. I think the books are going to be more valuable to me than whatever news I read. So I’m sticking with the books.
Warning: If I ever offer to loan or give you a book that I’ve already read, don’t accept it unless it’s a brand new copy.
