AIBU - Always flushing toilet with lid down

[GFFord]

After reading this I always flush with lid down : www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bacteria-toilets-flush-lid-closed-b1535481.html?amp

Also clean phone and remote controls etc daily with Dettol , in case you want to tell me my phone is worse than my toilet. 🙃

Who did the research? Do they have a vested interest?

(Harpic, and yes they do.)

Do the droplets etc equate to extra transfer? Not shown.

For starters, it looks to me that lid down or up, lots deposited on underside of lid. Which is precisely the area you will keep touching if you raise or lower the lid. So will this outweigh the spray effect? After normal hand washing, who is going to be walking out more infected?

A flash in the pan perhaps? Pretty pictures, but not good science (very good advertising though!)

I can’t get worked up about it. Our loos are all separate little rooms anyway.

Have never been bothered by this. Have always flushed with the lid up and likely to continue to do so. From discussions with friends, colleagues and MN, it would seem that my family have fewer D&V bugs and fewer lung infections than average, so I doubt there's anything wrong with our (un)sanitary procedures.

^This.

Who did the research? Do they have a vested interest? (Harpic, and yes they do.)

What a surprise!

@ThanksIGotItInMorrisons

Always flush with the lid down, always have done. Toothbrushes etc are all inside a cabinet too. Don’t want splashed up fecal matter on them. 🤮

Hate to break it to you, but you eat fecal matter on a daily basis.

It's on lots of things - your phone, your computer, bank cards, door handles, anything you touch in public. Under your nails. And nobody can possibly wash their hands well enough to get it all off, so you will eat some every day of your life, and have done since you were born :).

Enjoy your lunch! (And chill out).

I don’t do this because it means touching the lid to put it down, waiting for the flush and then lifting up again to check everything’s gone. I’ve survived 40 years and can’t get worked up about it.

I flush with the lid down because otherwise my old-fashioned downstairs loo sprays urine up the walls and they quickly need repainting.

Visitors are directed to the main bathroom where there is enough floor space around the loo to catch any escaped droplets.

Life’s too short to worry about this. A dose of grime is part of living a healthy life.

Never remember to do this, no one has become ill from it so not concerned.

I'm with @Topseyt. You're all batshit?!
This obsession with not using toilet brushes because they might have poo left on them?! They're not doubling down as a toothbrush?!

I don't think I've ever put the lid down in my life, and yet here I am, hale and hearty.

@ShirleyPhallus

I place my face directly over the bowl and the flush, that way I absorb any nutrients that may have passed through

All of this scare mongering is a bit over- blown imho. I'm.just grateful to have modern sanitation.

I close the lid on the loo at home when I flush but only so the cats don't jump in the loo. Before I had the cats, I didn't bother putting the lid down.

I know but doesn't bother me, I've managed to make it to my age without it causing harm!

It’s not widely advised, but yes, I’ve done it since I read about it pre-internet.

I went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre in WE and was surprised to see a little plaque on the wall above the loo saying please put lid down before flushing as particles get everywhere, which was surprising, I’ve never seen that before.

I can't stand the thought of any toilet related bacteria in my house so my family treks a 1/4 mile to an outhouse and then we boil wash our clothes before coming back in. Better safe than sorry.

YANBU. I do too. I have heard stuff like this before.

@MrsWooster agree🤢 and wet too. I'm in 60s and only just read this fairly recently, my kids were very rarely ill growing up and certainly never seemed to get stomach bugs so perhaps it 'helped' their immunity not putting toilet lid down🤔

I've never done this. It seems unnecessary and I never get ill so it can't be doing me much harm!

Those that put the lid down to flush, do you do that in public toilets also?

[quote Mossstitch]@MrsWooster agree🤢 and wet too. I'm in 60s and only just read this fairly recently, my kids were very rarely ill growing up and certainly never seemed to get stomach bugs so perhaps it 'helped' their immunity not putting toilet lid down🤔[/quote]
Same here. I'm late 50s and in our house we only put the toilet lid down if we want to sit on it to cut our toenails or something, we never put the lid down before we flush. It never occurs to any of us, in fact I'm more afraid of what horrors might be lurking beneath if I find a toilet seat down!

I've just seen on another thread that we should replace all toothbrushes after 2 months as well so frankly I'm amazed I'm alive at this point due to my bathroom hygiene (and bizarrely none of us have EVER had a tummy bug)

Why wouldn’t you flush with lid down? Was doing that 40 yrs ago & then check

@MrsWooster

So next time, when you sit on the loo, you can clean the underside of the lid with the back of your clothes…. Very efficient

Why do the back of your clothes touch the lid of the loo?

@mogsrus

Why wouldn’t you flush with lid down? Was doing that 40 yrs ago & then check

Because as a busy working single parent rushing around and grabbing a pee when I get the chance it's the absolute last thing on my mind. Why's it so important? We are an incredibly healthy household so clearly not done any harm. Also my dc are pretty feral. It's taken me til now to get them to actually remember to flush at all, closing the lid would be a step too far so only having it done a 3rd of the time wouldn't be much use anyway 😆