It’s called toilet plume.
A toilet plume is the invisible to the naked eye, cloud-like dispersal of raw, infectious sewage particles as a result of flushing a toilet. Flush particles rapidly rise out of the bowl and several feet into the air after flushing. Aerosolized droplets can remain suspended in the air for tens of minutes between users, posing an inhalation risk. These invisible particles go on to coat and spread onto surfaces like floors and counters or objects like hand towels, bathmats, or even toothbrushes.
It also stops things from falling into your toilet, pets from getting to the water, etc.
Closing the lid is the only sensible thing to do.
Along with this… Normalize dudes sitting down to piss.
You would not believe how many times I’ve been in a public bathroom and someone flushed a toilet while I was in there. It’s like nobody even cares they are lacing the place with their particles. Normalize not flushing in public bathrooms. That is the only answer.
YSK that your toilet lid isn’t a gasketed seal.
https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(25)00630-3/abstract
Putting the lid down does reduce the amount of shit mist, but it does not even get close to eliminating it.
I’d much rather have something fall onto the toilet lid than into the toilet. That alone makes closing it worthwhile.
Got me there, but not really relevant to the subject here. Maybe make your own YSK post?
Kinda is tho: We’re discussing closing the toilet lid, so… yeah.
How about we quantify how dangerous the farticles are first, before we decide how useful closing the seat is? Who cares how many invisible particles it stops if they turn out to be harmless?
Also it’s good for your immune system to get exercise.
Houses are too sterile these days.
Dont even get me started on how coddled the modern anus is.
Dont even get me started on how coddled the modern anus is.
The modern American anus. Americans seem to be obsessed with arse germs. Those weird little paper covers for the toilet seat, for example. How is that keeping you safe? Good grief.
It’s not it just makes you feel better that you’re not sitting on a seat that was just sat on by some sweaty acne puss filled buttcheeks.
Haha oh I’m one of those , in airports. I just get grossed out. Otherwise I’m fine.
It is how I build my immune system.
– Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Just remember, when you smell stink in a public bathroom you are inhaling strangers’ colon molecules.
I can not be the only one who is very aware, whenever i smell a fart, where those molecules were before they were in my nose.
I put the toilet lid down all the time.
I even put the lid down before I piss.
YSK to not be scared of every little mundane thing in life. It will paralyze you
Agreed. Obviously there are some things that, as we acquire new knowledge that may change daily behavior, need to be reconsidered, but this is not one of them. People will look for the dirty hypodermic in the haystack of swords.
There’s so many other things to care about more. In the age of information, our mental health depends on conscious gate keeping of what we allow to concern us and modify our behavior. Everyone needs to decide their own path but if you don’t and just scroll the feed you’ll go mad.
true, but if I gotta close the lid anyway to stop the cats from drinking from it, I may as well do it before flushing rather than after
…did you stand there and wait until the flush completed to close the lid before?
I wouldn’t consider being cautious about having literal fecal matter in my toothbrush mundane, but you do you.
Everything everywhere is covered in fecal matter. Mythbusters did an episode on it and their control toothbrush in the office had plenty.
Well you should be far more worried then. Because closing the lid or not won’t matter. Your toothbrush is covered in it anyway. Unless you’re covering your toothbrush when you’re not using it.
I keep it behind the cabinet mirror, I’m sure over time that’s better than in a cup next to the shitter. If you’re comfortable keeping your toothbrush out and near the toilet than more power to you.
You close the lid to avoid a plume of fecal particles. I close the lid because otherwise my dumb cat jumps directly into the bowl. We are not the same.
My cats LOVE the taste of toilet water.
I’ve put the toilet lid down since that mythbusters episode where they examined how much fecal matter got onto toothbrushes that are in the same room as the toilet.
Now my toothbrush isn’t in the same room as my toilet but I still shut the lid.
Spoiler for the mythbusters episode… It was a lot of fecal matter… A lot.
People are fascinating.
There are people who follow the “10 second rule”, i.e. food hits an unclean surface like the floor and they will pick it up and eat it.
Meanwhile, every single person who was born naturally has been shit on at birth. This is a thing that happens. And studies show that excessive cleaning of newborns leads to all sorts of allergies.
So there has to be a balance.
I’m sure a non-zero number of people have gotten ill from toilets flushing. I’m also sure that number is pretty small. And I’m as sure from studies that show that keeping the lid closed still lets particles out that it’s going to happen.
I’m of the opinion that this is a very small problem.
But as it happens, I keep my toothbrush at my desk because it’s more convenient for me.
So if it bothers you, keep your toothbrush in a cabinet and/or in one of those little cases.
I dated a guy that didn’t get sick. Like ever.
I found out later that he didn’t use soap (ever) or wash his hands or brush his teeth. (In my defense, he was tall and pretty and endlessly fascinating!) He would take multiple showers a day, but just no soap.
My point is, just because YOU don’t get sick, doesn’t mean you aren’t spreading around sick. Dude used his… layer as an offensive shield and didn’t see an issue with it.
There has to be a balance, for sure. Because that bio layer is part of our immune system. But also, what is that balance? Surely it can’t be being… that stinky, can it?
This kind of reminds me a little bit of the SUV argument of the 90s, where you don’t want to be the small car on the road, so just buy an SUV (and murder others).
Every other sexual post these days seems to be about eating ass, I’m not sure toilet plumes are high on the GenZ+ concern list.
Yeah, I’m of the mind that if I can’t sense something, and I’m not getting sick all the time because of it, it’s not bad enough to avoid. Lo and behold, I almost never get sick, even when my wife gets sick all the time. Now, it could absolutely be confirmation bias or some hidden 3rd factor that’s causing this, but either way, bring on the fecal matter mistings!
Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a ten second rule.
It’s a five second rule.
Also, to the shit thing; it’s a very well established fact that shit spreads tons of disease and infections. You sound dirty for just trying to bring up the counter point of getting some shit on you at birth and I don’t want to shake your hand.
Also, the 5 second rule is bullshit. Those people are yucky.
you sound dirty
And you sound ignorant. I can wash but can you learn?
Also, mothers shitting on babies being born not only is the reality, but considered to be important in developing the immune system.
Do try to be better.
Edit; five second rule is nasty, yes.
It’s not a risk, it’s a fact
“A 2024 study showed evidence that even closing the lid may still lead to small viral particles escaping through gaps under the lid, resulting in viral cross-contamination of the air and surfaces in a washroom.”
This is what I remember, there’s no actual solution to this. Still close the lid though!
That same study also includes this figure,
But the study doesn’t measure other surfaces or things like “a nearby sink” or “a hand towel”. Perhaps for airborne particles they roam more freely, but what about surface particles? I feel like there is more to study.
This is similar to why we all wore masks during the pandemic. No, they’re not always effective, but yes, they reduce transmission rates.
Yes, but there is incredibly strong evidence that mask wearing does reduce transmission rates. I haven’t looked (so definitely correct me if I’m wrong), but I suspect that lid closing likely does not have strong evidence for decreased transmission.
One factor that I think likely weighs heavily into this is that public toilets, where you could be exposed to particles from a stranger dont have lids usually, and they have a much more violent flush, while home toilets are mostly just used by your own household.
We’re not necessarily talking about transmission in this case, just the concept of poo particles spreading widely throughout your bathroom vs less widely
Too bad N95 masks and condoms can’t be made idiot-proof.
Idiot-proof is a misnomer. Better term is idiot-resistant.
Related note. I’m very sad that there isn’t a joke ANSI or ISO document laying out specifications for idiot-resistance standards.
Of course nothing’s 100% poof. But that doesn’t mean that you should stop. There is a massive difference between the particle numbers.
But if you close the lid, all the particles concentrate on it. Then when raise it back up and sit down, there’s a chance you’ll pick it all up with your back.
So the question becomes, do you want shit more evenly spread out in the air or do you want concentrated shit on your back?
You’re… leaning back against the seat?
No you guys are pooping in the wrong direction
You presume you don’t?
has an infection ever occured due to the lid being close, seems like it would be too small to cause problems.
I think it can help to lay some toilet paper down before you flush. I found it to be less smelly after doing so.
Before and after. Unless you like that little splash of dirty water on your taint.
Poseidon’s kiss. There’s no dread quite like using a porta-potty in a condition where there’s a risk of that happening.
Why do (especially public) toilets even have a lid that stays up?
To mark you
Or ones that don’t have a lid and is permanently open…
Because cleaning those surfaces is extra work, toilet is already in a stall that helps inhibit the mist, and the door handle you use to get out is dirtier than anything else in that room.
