Trends come and go, but one I really don’t like that is taking place is men leaving toilet seats up.
Yep, another one of those inane issues that is roiling me—well, roiling is a bit strong, but it is annoying me.
It’s one thing the toilet seat is left up, even worse when it has not been flushed. (Image: Kathryn Reed)
With more and more places having shared bathrooms for men and women, I am having to put the seat down like never before.
Maybe men are just as annoyed to find that more and more they are having to put the seat up.
Proper etiquette, from what I found on the internet, is for the lid to be down. So, that means we have all probably been doing it wrong for a while. It looks nice, for one thing. But health reasons are the driving factor for a closed lid.
According to the Microbiology Society, “Research has found that flushing the toilet with the lid down could reduce airborne particles by as much as 50 percent.”
Researchers at University College Cork discovered the number of visible and smaller droplets after flushing dropped by 30-60 percent when toilet lid was down.
Those droplets contain a lot of nasty things.
The PlumbWorld website says, “The most obvious reason to leave the toilet lid down is because it’s more hygienic. Toilet water contains microbes of … well, everything that goes down it, to put it politely. Many bugs and infections have also been found in toilets, including the common cold, flu, E. coli, salmonella, hepatitis A and shingella. When you flush the loo, a bacterial-riddled spray—also known as ‘toilet plume’—is released into the air and sticks to your toiletries, bathroom surfaces and even your toothbrush. If that’s not delightful enough to contemplate, you’ll be pleased to know it can linger for ages afterward.”
With all of this lovely information, I’m going to start putting the lid down on the toilet—maybe even at home. I don’t really want droplets reaching my toothbrush.
Maybe we can help each other out by putting down the lid on all public toilets. This means putting it down before flushing.
My household always closes the toilet lid for the above stated reasons. Thanks, Kae, for enlightening a few more people.
Thanks for informing everyone and I am glad the toilet picture was only pee.
I close the lid before flushing.
One of the most annoying things is women who piss over the toilet seat and leave it a mess for the next person. Put the seat UP if you’re not going to sit down!!
First off thank you Kae for the microbiological report I will flush with lid down from now on, good info. Secondly, for a long time I have lifted the seat so as to avoid peeing or splashing the seat. My first reason for leaving the seat up is if the next user is a man it’s already in place, my second reason is anyone who needs to sit will look and see the seat up and will assume there’s better chance of it being pee free. Does that make sense?
Absolutely it makes sense.
Thank you!
It’s the women (women’s restrooms) who are not putting the seat UP when needed.
“Proper etiquette, from what I found on the internet, is for the lid to be down. So, that means we have all probably been doing it wrong for a while.”
SPEAK FOR YOURSELF! How grossly impudent to tar everybody with the same nasty toilet brush!