splash.

January 17, 2007 9:01 PM

Why does everyone seem to drop their cell phone in the toilet?

All my friends have done this at least once, one of my friends three times. Now all of them have also soaked said phones in alcohol, let dry, and had perfectly fine phones afterward, but how does one actually drop a cell phone in a toilet? I thought about this a lot and came up with only one theory: tetris+#2...am I wrong?

posted by weaponsgradecarp to health (28 comments total)

I don't know anybody that has ever dropped a cell phone into a toilet.

Maybe it's because I know people that don't take their cell phones into the bathroom in the first goddamn place. ;-)
posted by drstein at 9:03 PM on January 17, 2007

I thought this until it happened to me.

I keep mine in my pocket. I was standing and pulling up pants...PLOP!

My month old razr in the toilet.

The funny part was it was my wedding day, and my best friend heard my shriek and thought I dropped my ring down the toilet. That kinda threw it into perspective - could have been worse.
posted by jesirose at 9:03 PM on January 17, 2007

No, here's what happens- you put the phone in your pocket, and then when you're going to sit on the toilet, you pull your pants down and PLOP! In it goes. That's how I dropped my phone in the toilet of that country western bar in Las Vegas.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:03 PM on January 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

Sending an SMS.
posted by vacapinta at 9:04 PM on January 17, 2007

*to clarify, the fabric being bunched up pushed the phone out of my pocket, and the angle launched it behind me into the porcelain.
posted by jesirose at 9:04 PM on January 17, 2007

I keep my phone in my shirt pocket. I reach down to wipe the seat before I sit and ... plop! (couple times now) (one keypad light doesn't work, other than that it's fine.)
posted by muddylemon at 9:06 PM on January 17, 2007

** GROSS STORY WARNING! ** My housemate in London did it exactly like jesirose, except he was completely drunk and suffering from a bit of a bowel problem at the time. So not only did he drop it, he then crapped all over it.
posted by web-goddess at 9:14 PM on January 17, 2007

Drunk dialing or texting.
posted by Loto at 9:20 PM on January 17, 2007

Before cell phone, how many people have dropped their keys in the toilet?

Plenty; it's all about what you have in your hands.
posted by peeedro at 9:23 PM on January 17, 2007

peeedro's got it right, and throw in a little shit luck (intentional punnage) for good measure. The toilet is basically the worst place for the phone to land, right? It also happens to occupy a good amount of real estate within the stall/bathroom. Fumbling around with your pants, etc., there's plenty of opportunity for you to lose control of the phone. Once it's airborne, and according to the universal laws of Chaos and Utter Bullshit combined, the phone should land in the toilet approx. 86.32% of the time, rather than bouncing off the rim or just falling harmlessly to the floor. That's shit luck for you. It's science.
posted by krippledkonscious at 12:09 AM on January 18, 2007

Being so impressed by the sheer size of the #2 produced that you stop to take a photo with your phone, to record the event for posterity.

This happened to someone I worked with, no kidding.
posted by emilyw at 2:52 AM on January 18, 2007

I always figured that it was because you can quite often have both hands busy with clothing, toilet paper and the like so you have a tendency to put the phone between your shoulder and ear and when you try to move around like that, especially bending over, it is very easy to have it slip off your shoulder.
posted by iurodivii at 4:24 AM on January 18, 2007

Playing a game on the phone to pass the time.
Put phone on top of toilet paper dispenser while wiping.
Phones slides into toilet due to sloping dispenser.
posted by DZ-015 at 4:39 AM on January 18, 2007

I usually keep my mobile in a trouser pocket -- not a problem with it there ever. But when I'm expecting a call -- or a lot of calls -- I'll keep it in a shirt pocket for easy retrieval.

None of my phones have fallen into liquid of any kind, but they've all tumbled onto desks, chairs, tables, computer keyboards, and floors from my shirt pocket. I don't have to bend over far for this to happen.
posted by ardgedee at 5:25 AM on January 18, 2007

I've done this having the phone in my jeans back pocket. Luckily it went into the bowl before I got down to business.

The man at the phone store just laughed at me and said that going into the toilet was the biggest killer of mobile phones.
posted by gomichild at 6:39 AM on January 18, 2007

I've had my phone almost* fall into the toilet bowl on numerous occasions. If I'm wearing a shirt with a front shirt pocket, for some reason it's usually the preferred place to put my phone will I'm taking a pee. I've caught it slipping out as I leaned over to flush. Talking on the phone (especially when drunk) while peeing adds the risk of it slipping off your shoulder and into the bowl.
posted by deeman at 6:41 AM on January 18, 2007

I dropped my cell phone AND a loaded handgun into the toilet once. Both at the same time. It's all simple physics. My slacks were not rigid enough and the holster flipped backwards knocking out the gun and taking my phone with it.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 6:59 AM on January 18, 2007 [3 favorites]

I had my cell phone in my shirt pocket, and it fell into the toilet when I leaned over to flush. When I went into the store to get a replacement, a guy came in who had dropped his cell phone in the toilet.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:15 AM on January 18, 2007

A woman at the building I work at flushed the damn thing this week.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:16 AM on January 18, 2007

The stress of carefully avoiding any conspicuous bathroom noises causes them to fumble the phone into the toilet, obviously.

A friend at work was in the restroom and heard someone chatting away while on the toilet. A split second after he hung up, the worst series of noises came from the toilet stall. Self control takes a lot of effort.
posted by mikeh at 7:23 AM on January 18, 2007

I don't know, but I worked at a busy wireless provider retail store, and we got at least a couple of these a week. People usually seemed awfully offended to find out that their warranty didn't cover accidental toilet bowl dunks.
posted by drycleanonly at 7:39 AM on January 18, 2007

Is this really what ask.me is for?

If you know so many people who have dropped their phone into the toilet, why didn't you just ask each one how their phone managed to end up in the bowl?
posted by necessitas at 7:52 AM on January 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

I had a Nokia phone that survived 2 drops from my shirt pocket into the toilet, one into the dog water bowl, and one trip through the laundry (washer and dryer) pretty much unscathed. Though after the dryer, the backlight in the screen never worked again, making it useless at night.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 8:07 AM on January 18, 2007

this is why i don't take my phone into the bathroom, i leave it on my desk. i usually keep it in my jeans pocket, and i can foresee what would happen...
also, i really don't want to talk to anyone while taking care of business.
the other women at work definitely talk on the phone during, though. i think that's a pretty good indicator of addiction... can't put the thing down for 5 minutes? jeez, ladies, does anyone really want to talk to you while you're taking a crap? i certainly wouldn't.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 9:10 AM on January 18, 2007

Since we're all telling stories...
During a road trip last summer, my sister was in a McDonalds bathroom in South Georgia. One of the employees was in the stall next to her, chatting on her cell. You know what came next--splash, dismayed exclamation, other splashes as she retrieved the phone. Then a flush. And then no hand-washing whatsoever before she went back on the job. Nice!
posted by paleography at 9:24 AM on January 18, 2007

My roommate was getting married, had a little reception at the restaurant downstairs from our place. He used to work there, so the wine was free. That's the real source of the problem for me. Standing, talking on the phone, trying to go to the bathroom, inebriation led to balance problems, which led to flailing which led to the phone going into the toilet. What I didn't realize until I woke the next day was that I'd also fallen backwards into the shower and broken the tile soap-dish off the wall.

People drop their phones in the toilet when they drink too much. Good news, I left the phone off for about 24 hours, and when I turned it on again it worked! Hooray!
posted by jrb223 at 10:31 AM on January 18, 2007

I dropped my mp3 player into the toilet at home. I had it in the front pocket of a hoodie sweatshirt, and when I stood up and bent over to flush, the fabric of the pocket suddenly shifted and dumped it into the bowl. I had even been thinking about being careful with it at the time, but it happened so fast I couldn't grab it. I'd guess that most electronics + toilet accidents involve either sudden pocket malfunction, drinking, or both.
posted by vorfeed at 1:03 PM on January 18, 2007

It's two days later and I'm just seeing this now, but I think your answer is "confirmation bias".

People remember the one time they drop their phone in the toilet. No one remembers the 20 times their clumsy ass dropped it on the ground or their seat/desk and nothing happened. Although those who do the "cell phone in the shirt pocket" are just asking for it...
posted by hincandenza at 9:43 PM on January 19, 2007