4 ms·

That's silly. Wanting privacy during our most vulnerable moments is deeply ingrained into our psyche, all the way down to our lizard brains. This is a very rea

That's silly. Wanting privacy during our most vulnerable moments is deeply ingrained into our psyche, all the way down to our lizard brains. This is a very real and very legitimate problem to be solved. Surely, you must feel perfectly comfortable walking around naked, having people watch you defecate, or having sex in public? After all, it's part of life!

moron4hire 5y ago
I honestly don't give a shit if someone knows I'm taking a shit.
- oceanplexian 5y ago
  It's all fun and games until you have explosive diarrhea and your coworkers are making Taco Bell jokes for the next 6 months.
  - moron4hire 5y ago
    I don't work at a tech company or with other programmers anymore, so nobody is that juvenile.
clint 5y ago
Won't reply to all the strawmen at the bottom of your post, but I and lots of people don't care what people HEAR while we're using the bathroom.... its a bathroom for god's sake! Everything happening in there is normal and I'm not sure why you are imagining yourself to be "vulnerable" inside a locked private room.
- newman8r 5y ago
  This is probably an interesting way to group people - those who care vs those who don't. I tend to be very conscious of the noise I'm projecting - I always prefer for people who I can't see to not be able to hear me. I'm not just talking about the restroom - this also includes talking loudly in public, playing music loudly around others, etc. I feel it's like a privacy thing to me. I'd prefer people not to notice me unless it's intentional.
- jasondigitized 5y ago
  I’m willing to bet 50% of people in the U.S. get anxious when having to do their business in a public bathroom. Doing your business next to a stranger in Tevas with hobbit feet and a serious gastro intestinal issue is nightmare fuel for me.
  - outsidetheparty 5y ago
    It's funny how people tend to assume their own characteristics are global phenomena, or at least common; isn't it? Looks like the actual number is somewhere closer to 2.8% - 16.4% of people [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28554367/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28554367/]. (This study was specifically about "shy bladder" but that seems a pretty close proxy)
    - jasondigitized 5y ago
      Not shy bladder at all. I’ll let it rip. Doesn’t mean I or others enjoy the experience.
    - rco8786 5y ago
      Disagree that it's a close proxy. Not being able to perform at all is much different than feeling uncomfortable about people hearing you do said deed.
      - outsidetheparty 5y ago
        Fair enough. The comment I was responding to characterized pooping next to a stranger as "nightmare fuel;" perhaps I over-interpreted that.
  - yurishimo 5y ago
    I’m one of these people. Luckily as a man, I don’t mind taking a whiz in a public restroom, even if it’s disgusting, but id almost rather have an accident in my car than stop and take a #2 in a nasty gas station restroom. My bathroom at home is a sanctuary and I never take it for granted.
- zdragnar 5y ago
  Though I human, I prefer my coworkers think I am a robot.
- rco8786 5y ago
  > I'm not sure why you are imagining yourself to be "vulnerable" inside a locked private room. The whole reason we all agree that having a locked room to do your business in is ideal is because it's such a vulnerable position to be in. We feel better about being in a locked room, but you can never get your basic instincts to not feel vulnerable when you're mid defecation/mid urination. It's animalistic and can never go away. Quite literally, knowing people can hear us take a dump triggers survival instincts because our brains think we could be alerting predators to our whereabouts while we're not in a position to run or fight
  - throwaway675309 5y ago
    I mean it's fun to speculate but you're not really providing any concrete evidence. I think you're speaking from a purely personal perspective, and so in the same spirit, I metaphorically and literally don't give a shit what unholy sounds emanate from my stall when I am taking care of business. I think it's also highly dependent on your cultural background and upbringing.
    - rco8786 5y ago
      https://www.sjaakvandergeest.socsci.uva.nl/pdf/privacy/handbook-privacy_2018.pdf https://www.sjaakvandergeest.socsci.uva.nl/pdf/privacy/handb...
  - autoexec 5y ago
    > It's animalistic and can never go away. I'm not sure that's true. Given enough time it could change. I'm just not sure why we'd want it to. I'm perfectly content to leave some things a mystery and that includes what anyone else is doing in the bathroom.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

moron4hire 5y ago

I honestly don't give a shit if someone knows I'm taking a shit.

oceanplexian 5y ago
It's all fun and games until you have explosive diarrhea and your coworkers are making Taco Bell jokes for the next 6 months.
- moron4hire 5y ago
  I don't work at a tech company or with other programmers anymore, so nobody is that juvenile.

clint 5y ago

Won't reply to all the strawmen at the bottom of your post, but I and lots of people don't care what people HEAR while we're using the bathroom.... its a bathroom for god's sake! Everything happening in there is normal and I'm not sure why you are imagining yourself to be "vulnerable" inside a locked private room.

newman8r 5y ago
This is probably an interesting way to group people - those who care vs those who don't. I tend to be very conscious of the noise I'm projecting - I always prefer for people who I can't see to not be able to hear me. I'm not just talking about the restroom - this also includes talking loudly in public, playing music loudly around others, etc. I feel it's like a privacy thing to me. I'd prefer people not to notice me unless it's intentional.
jasondigitized 5y ago
I’m willing to bet 50% of people in the U.S. get anxious when having to do their business in a public bathroom. Doing your business next to a stranger in Tevas with hobbit feet and a serious gastro intestinal issue is nightmare fuel for me.
- outsidetheparty 5y ago
  It's funny how people tend to assume their own characteristics are global phenomena, or at least common; isn't it? Looks like the actual number is somewhere closer to 2.8% - 16.4% of people [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28554367/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28554367/]. (This study was specifically about "shy bladder" but that seems a pretty close proxy)
  - jasondigitized 5y ago
    Not shy bladder at all. I’ll let it rip. Doesn’t mean I or others enjoy the experience.
  - rco8786 5y ago
    Disagree that it's a close proxy. Not being able to perform at all is much different than feeling uncomfortable about people hearing you do said deed.
    - outsidetheparty 5y ago
      Fair enough. The comment I was responding to characterized pooping next to a stranger as "nightmare fuel;" perhaps I over-interpreted that.
- yurishimo 5y ago
  I’m one of these people. Luckily as a man, I don’t mind taking a whiz in a public restroom, even if it’s disgusting, but id almost rather have an accident in my car than stop and take a #2 in a nasty gas station restroom. My bathroom at home is a sanctuary and I never take it for granted.
zdragnar 5y ago
Though I human, I prefer my coworkers think I am a robot.
rco8786 5y ago
> I'm not sure why you are imagining yourself to be "vulnerable" inside a locked private room. The whole reason we all agree that having a locked room to do your business in is ideal is because it's such a vulnerable position to be in. We feel better about being in a locked room, but you can never get your basic instincts to not feel vulnerable when you're mid defecation/mid urination. It's animalistic and can never go away. Quite literally, knowing people can hear us take a dump triggers survival instincts because our brains think we could be alerting predators to our whereabouts while we're not in a position to run or fight
- throwaway675309 5y ago
  I mean it's fun to speculate but you're not really providing any concrete evidence. I think you're speaking from a purely personal perspective, and so in the same spirit, I metaphorically and literally don't give a shit what unholy sounds emanate from my stall when I am taking care of business. I think it's also highly dependent on your cultural background and upbringing.
  - rco8786 5y ago
    https://www.sjaakvandergeest.socsci.uva.nl/pdf/privacy/handbook-privacy_2018.pdf https://www.sjaakvandergeest.socsci.uva.nl/pdf/privacy/handb...
- autoexec 5y ago
  > It's animalistic and can never go away. I'm not sure that's true. Given enough time it could change. I'm just not sure why we'd want it to. I'm perfectly content to leave some things a mystery and that includes what anyone else is doing in the bathroom.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]