Redditor TophatMcMonocle has a humorous but useful suggestion for ensuring that you learn your new tech products inside and out: keep those manuals in the bathroom, where you’re desperate for something to read.
Photo by Sean Winters.
If you’ve been known to ignore the cardinal rule of technology (“Read the F****ing Manual”), you can use this trick to form better habits:
Put new product manuals in the [bathroom]. Then read them little by little. Within a day, or several days, you’ll understand the new item’s functions without having to have dedicated an afternoon for study.
S
ure, it’s a bit silly, but as many of us at Lifehacker can tell you, 90% of tech problems can be solved by reading the manual to begin with — and as we enter the Christmas season, where you’re sure to accumulate lots of new gadgets, this bit of strategic placement could come in handy.
LPT For Bathroom Readers: Put new product manuals in the s***er. [Reddit]
Christian
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 11:53 AMbut if I rtfm in the bathroom (p.s. it is called a toilet in AUS) when will I be able to use my mobile (not cell) in the bathroom to do the tweets and the facebooks?!
Eccentric
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 12:54 PMAnybody see that mythbusters show where they tested the amount of fecal matter that floats around the general area of the loo? I stopped leavings reading material in there after that. I’m not one of those that has a phobia about cleanliness either! The amount of airborn turd is ridiculously high! You may as well spread it on your sandwich!
Drew
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 1:21 PMSounds tasty :)
Fred Nerk
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 1:36 PMYeah, but if you close the toilet seat before you flush almost all of that stuff doesn’t end up spread around the room. (it all effervesces when you flush and if the seat is up, well it goes out into the room)
Eccentric
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 2:22 PMWrong actually, whilst you are sitting there happily snapping off mud nuggets, the amount of fecal matter that escapes is a lot higher than if you just fart. So unless you are so fat that the gas can’t get past you, you are in effect a concentrated turd aerosol. Why do you think it smells so much worse going in after someone else just used it! Now add the fact that every one in the house uses it, and viola, excrement hell, or heaven if you are a dog!
Drew
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 2:53 PMYou should probably stop going to the toilet then.
Antipodean
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 3:18 PMHuh?
Max
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 9:11 PMEw, no.
Jay
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 9:35 PMManuals fit my personal rule for toilet reading material: It has to be able to be read in short bursts – a couple of pages at a time. I’m not one for lazing about on the dunny. If I’m not doing Tw*tter on the Sh*tter then it’s usually some form of non-fiction. For me, that’s included books on critical thinking/forms of argument, history of language, a french phrasebook, and currently, The Personal MBA.
Mystery Man
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 1:43 PMI don’t understand why people read in the toilet. If you have time enough to read whilst pushing out a turd, you’re most likely doing it wrong. If you’re finished, why the hell would you sit around on top of your own reeking excrement any longer than necessary?