Since smartphones and social media became part of daily life, it has become a struggle to turn ourselves away from the connections they offer.
And it’s no surprise. We are, after all, social creatures. But it’s worth asking if we need to take our social lives with us into the bathroom for our most private moments.
Bathroom breaks used to be just that, a break. Now we fill those minutes with more stimulation, more connection. We rarely give ourselves a moment to pause.
But there is an alternative, and it’s much easier to start than you might think.
Turn to a Bathroom Reading Book
These brief moments in the bathroom are the perfect chance to step away from your phone and read instead. Reading is good for us, no matter what book we read or how long we spend with it.
But we often feel that we don’t have enough time to pick up a book. How can we get all of these benefits?
Make your bathroom a ‘No Phone Zone’
The solution is simple: leave your phone outside the bathroom and take a book with you that you will enjoy reading.
Those small reading moments will soon add up and make a real difference over time.
How to Start Bathroom Reading Journey
This is easy to start. Choose a book you enjoy and keep it in your bathroom, within easy reach of the toilet.
Whenever you have some alone time in there, pick it up and read a few pages. When you are done, mark your page and put it back.
To make this work, think about the type of book you bring into the bathroom. Avoid anything too heavy or mentally draining. Choose something you can dip in and out of with ease.
Look for books with short chapters or sections. Short stories, poems, or essays work well. Reference books are also a good choice, with small pieces of information you can read each day.
Because the reading time is so short, your book may take months to finish. That is fine. Bathroom reading should support your main reading, not replace it.
You may be tempted to use a Kindle or e-reader for this, but for hygiene reasons it is better to keep devices out of the bathroom.
Choose a book and leave it there until you finish it!
Suggestions for Bathroom Reading Books
Here are a few books I’ve found easy to read in short bursts. I will explain why they work well for bathroom readers:
The Pig that Wants to be Eaten, Julian Baggini
This is my current bathroom read. It includes 100 short thought experiments, each only a few pages long. Each chapter leaves you with a question to reflect on. It’s funny, engaging, and perfect for a single sitting.
Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
This book is filled with short pieces of advice from one of Rome’s greatest leaders. Each entry is brief, and you can open to any page and still gain something useful. It is a simple way to reflect on your actions each day.
The Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi
Musashi, a Japanese warrior, wrote this as a guide for combat. But it also offers life advice in short, clear sections that can be read in under 5 minutes. It is similar to Meditations, but provides more structure if that helps you pick up where you left off.
Any Kind of Reference Book
Reference books work well for quick reading sessions. They are made up of brief sections and interesting facts. Pictures and illustrations can help bring ideas to life. I often use them to learn history, but you can use any topic that excites you.
50 Hours a Year?
If the average toilet break is 5 minutes and you go twice a day, that’s over an hour each week. That adds up to more than 50 hours each year. It is likely even more if you take your phone in with you.
What could you do with an extra 50 hours?
Use this time to start reading about a topic that has always interested you. Maybe it’s history, philosophy, or travel.
Imagine the person you could become if you spent an extra 50 hours each year exploring something that matters to you.
