If you had to lose one of your five senses, which would it be?

[Johnnyfartpants]

I think about this more than I should!

Probably touch for me, but would I then miss things like stroking my cats?

Argh hard decision!

I also thought touch. That could almost be a superpower. Although I think I'd miss it after a while!

Taste.

Taste.

Smell, but with my hay-fever I already lose it for over half the year so a few more months wouldn't make much difference

If you lost touch, you could end up badly hurting yourself (eg couldn’t feel if you were burning). Would have to be smell, although that would have a knock on impact on taste unfortunately!

Taste, 100%. I spend all my life thinking about food. I'd probably be a lot slimmer and healthier if I lost my sense of taste.

In order I would say Taste > Smell > Hearing > Touch > Sight.

Smell. I’ve lost my sense of smell temporarily in the past and I can’t say it had a massive impact on my life.

Smell definitely.

If you lose touch you're dead in no time, or at least badly maimed.

I'd reluctantly choose smell, although that would mean most of taste is gone too.

Of course there are many more senses we don't include, like balance, sense of time, temperature, pain...

It’s not something I care to think about, OP, but what I most fear is becoming blind. I’m a bit claustrophobic, and the idea of being shut in the dark forever is just terrifying. I also very much enjoy art and visiting art galleries - I would hate to lose that part of life. All my distractions (reading, embroidery, writing letters, learning things) rely on sight as well. So it’s not so much which one I would choose to lose, as which one would I most mind losing. People have told me that you’re more “cut off” if you’re deaf, but for me, sight trumps all the others.

Smell. Surely. I’d then get a good paying job somewhere smelly like a sewer. Maybe.

Probably the loss of smell would be the least inconvenient to everyday life.

As others have said, smell. It would affect me least.

Losing sight or hearing would make life extremely difficult and I would hate to be unable to read.
Losing taste would mean being unable to enjoy really delicious food and I would miss that.

Touch is interesting because it encompasses a variety of sensations. There's a debate about how many senses we have (it's definitely more than 5) and when we say touch, we can mean different things.

Touch can mean recognising the texture of different materials.

It can mean sensitivity to temperature. A disabled friend suffered minor burns when he was young after sitting for too long on a radiator.

It can mean sensitivity to pressure. How could you pick up a glass without dropping it if you couldn't feel how tightly to hold it?

There are other senses like proprioception which is the awareness of where your body is.

There are other senses like proprioception which is the awareness of where your body is.

I seem to lack this anyway, so that's my choice sorted.

I think taste would be the least disruptive to lose. (sadly, it is not a weight loss catalyst)

I have coped with dry-mouth-syndrome for more than a decade now (thanks, peri) which means loss of tastimg nuances. It's disappointing but I think loss of smell long-term would be worse because because all food/drink would lose its flavours.

I'd never want to give up sight or hearing and losing sense of touch could be dangerous.

It amazes me how people feel smell wouldn’t be too bad to lose.
its my second favourite sense after taste- lovely smelling perfumes, candles, laundry products, new born baby smell 😍

Smell would be awful to lose, but surely that’s the least debilitating. Or maybe taste. I’m torn.

I lost my sense of smell when I had Covid and it didn't impact my life very much. I'd forgotten about that actually. That whole time was so odd.

Taste and smell. Lost them years ago and I seem to be surviving.

I would definitely choose to be deaf over being blind if it was just between the two.

I think loss of touch would be a catastrophe - how would you stay upright on uneven ground if you couldn't feel it, or cut up an onion or sharpen a knife, or not burn yourself badly, or not get frostbite (etc etc etc).

So then I would have to decide whether taste or smell is more important. If taste really IS 80% smell then I guess I would go for losing taste over smell. I also love perfume and flowers and the smell of the ground when it rains.

Then I'm picking between deafness and not tasting. I think I'd go for not tasting because being deaf would be so inconvenient but given I'm not massively bothered by music I think being deaf would upset me less than most people. I don't like all the noise of the world a lot of the time so having that switched off would be wonderful. What wouldn't be wonderful would be being unable to beam anything else into my brain when your brain is full of other thoughts and they need overwriting with something else. Overall I reckon this disadvantage would outweigh anything else. So it's got to be taste, or smell if the "80% of taste is smell" thing isn't true.

Great question OP!

Losing touch would be like having nerve loss/paralysis. Imagine if no part of your body could sense touch you wouldn't be able to walk or lift things or anything.
I guess smell I'd probably choose.
And I feel I'd rather have hearing loss than be blind.

Smell, as I've lost it a few times already and it's not too bad. Can still taste food with tastebuds on tongue. Touch is probably underappreciated - I would hate to lose that.

I lost my sense of smell three years ago due to a brain tumour. Disadvantages are that I can’t smell food - either a lovely roast, chip shop chips, or fresh baked bread - or other lovely smells like a newborn baby, flowers, perfume, freshly washed clothes, nice shower gel etc. The advantages I suppose are that I can’t smell cat poo or baby poo, or any poo for that matter, farts, BO, bad breath etc. Dangers are that I can’t smell smoke or escaping gas or even gone off chicken. Inconveniences are that I can’t just sniff that grandkids’ bums to see if they need changing, my daughters have to tell me if the bins or the cat litter trays need changing - if it’s not obvious by looking at them, or if the kitchen sink drain is getting a bit whiffy.
I’m not sure if it’s affected my sense of taste as I have only ever liked very bland food anyway and never been able to tell the difference between, for example, branded Coke and supermarket own.
I guess I’d probably choose smell if I had a choice about losing a sense. I’ve got used to it and it’s not something I think about much anymore.

I have a significant hearing impairment and trust me, it is not a choice I would deliberately make. It is far, far more than "inconvenient" to me.

I'm sure the majority of posters find this a bit of fun to 'pick' one and will think that I'm a killjoy but this is my reality and that of many others too.

same lose my smell and taste for months at a time. Its awful. I think touch would be worse though no hugs, warm bath, comfy in bed just numbness nothing.