Why sitting on the loo with your phone could harm your health

Sitting on the toilet with a phone is close to universal behaviour, and doctors would like people to stop.

The problem is time. A quick visit becomes fifteen minutes because the phone removes any sense of it passing, and prolonged sitting on a toilet seat places sustained pressure on the veins around the rectum. Research links the habit to a meaningfully higher risk of haemorrhoids.

There is a hygiene dimension too. Phones collect bacteria in bathrooms and then travel to desks, dining tables and faces, which is a straightforward transmission route people rarely think about.

The advice from clinicians is unglamorous: leave the phone outside, and treat more than a few minutes on the toilet as a sign to get up and come back later.