TOILET TRAINING: TV TROPES

I also found this interesting so here 'tis. 

THE DIAPER CHANGE: TV TROPES

Here's a pretty spot-on summary of the way the use of diapers by babies and the subsequent task of changing them is often handled in popular culture.

I would like to add two more:

Nobody ever shuts up the person whining about diapers by pointing out that someone had to change them.

Second, even when a newborn or infant has a dirty diaper, it still stinks, even though diapers don't begin to smell that way till the child starts eating solid foods, or so I am told.

At any rate, the examples stated below the main content in the link should invoke some feelings of nostalgia, if not also disgust and a sudden desire to cut the cord. 

DON'T USE YOUR PHONE ON THE TOILET, PEOPLE!

New York Post

 

Here’s how many hours we spend using our phones on the toilet every year — and why doctors warn against it

By Adriana Diaz

Published June 24, 2025, 3:35 p.m. ET

 

You should flush sh-tty scrolling down the toilet.

 

A new study has revealed the total number of hours Americans spend using their phones on the toilet every year — and it’s shocking.

 

A team from QS Supplies — a bathroom supplies company — surveyed 500 Americans about their bathroom habits.

 

According to the study, Americans spend 49 hours using their phone on the commode — just over two full days a year down the drain.

 

And what are people doing on their phones while sitting on the throne?

 

They’re scrolling on social media (66%), watching videos (40%), responding to texts and DMs (37%), reading the news (36%), sending emails (36%), playing games (29%), shopping online (14%), completing work-related tasks (9%) and talking on the phone (8%).

 

But most disturbingly, a strange 2% of people said they answer video calls from the John.

 

And to no one’s surprise, Gen Z is the worst culprit of this dirty habit.

 

The generation born between 1997 and 2012 admitted to spending an average of 54 hours doomscrolling while on the toilet.

 

This habit has become more than just something to help them pass…time.

 

In fact, over 6 in 10 people (61%) admit to staying on the toilet longer to finish something on their phone.

 

Others — over in 2 in 5 (42%) — even lock themselves away in the loo just to get a break from others.

 

They’re trying to get sh-t done and hide when they get pissy.

 

And for 51% of Americans — they just want to enjoy some alone time.

 

“The data shows just how far social media, especially apps like TikTok, have pervaded even our most personal moments,” Director of QS Supplies Farook Member told The Post.

 

Unfortunately, this habit is dirtier than most might expect, especially because only 1 in 4 people clean their phones after using them in the bathroom.

 

Baby Boomers are the least likely ones to wipe down their phones after coming off the toilet.

 

Doctors warn that using a dirty phone can cause you to develop colds, flu, and gastrointestinal and stomach illnesses.

 

But even if you do clean your cell after you wash your hands, using your phone in the bathroom could still lead to health issues.

 

Experts have warned that sitting on the toilet with your phone could cause “TikTok tush.”

 

Hemorrhoids are swollen veins in the anus and rectum that can lead to pain, itching and bleeding.

 

Frequently, they form due to too much straining during a bowel movement, but just kicking back on the can for too long — like when you’re texting or on social media — can hurt you too.

 

If you want to prevent them, one gastroenterologist insists you’ll need to give your phone a rest when going number two — no ifs, ands, or uncomfortable butts about it.

 

And his “10-15” rule may be a huge help in keeping your bum healthy come toilet time.

TINKYPOO DIAPERS: BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEY HOLD

Like Every Life, one of TinkyPoo's main features is that this company has a cause, namely the empowerment of black people. TinkyPoo, however, doesn't stop there but does the most important work of explaining why their product is the best, namely because it's both made from natural materials as well as being superabsorbent and providing blowout protection.

DISANA: THE CLOTH DIAPER YOU TIE ON

First of all, I had no idea there were tie-on cloth diapers.

Second, it's neat how Disana is the oldest surviving cloth diaper brand, going back to the time when old school flannel reusables with safety pins and rubber pants were the norm for catching baby's poops and pees.

It's also so cool how the daughters of the founders are now running Disana, and that they actually wore their product way back when.

Here's a history of the company.

THE HISTORY OF TOILETING

This history of teaching children to use the toilet contains lots of interesting things I didn't know and hadn't heard about. I question the accuracy of some of the items, but nonetheless this document clearly shows how and why the toilet training age has gone up and up and up, now to the insane point of one month after the child's third birthday. 

DISPOSABLE DIAPER EVOLUTION TIMELINE

Here's a history of the disposable diaper, at least up to the end of the 00s. Sure interesting to look back at all these old diaper brands and to find out about those of which I had never heard.

Came across this in PDF form years ago and glad I found it again. 

Here's an updated version, tracing disposable diapers all the way to 2019.

WHERE DISPOSABLE DIAPERS ARE HEADED

In addition to correctly predicting Huggies would bring back a pants-style diaper, I had some other predictions about disposable diapers a few years ago that I still stand by.

First, the logical thing for these companies to do is to keep making baby and youth diapers in bigger and bigger sizes, which is already happening. Using Huggies as our template, make Huggies diapers that are just smaller than the smallest Good Nites and make Good Nites that are just smaller than the smallest Depends.

Speaking of Depends, make graduated Depends as Tena does with their Ultra line, where you have greater absorbancy the higher the numbers go.

Also, possibly meld at least the bigger size of Good Nites into their adult diaper brand so older kids who wet the bed or who need protection during the day are not wearing a brand associated with little kids. Alternatively, make a bigger brand of Huggies Overnight or a more absorbant night-time Pull-up and re-market Good Nites as a brand for preteens and teens.

Finally, make all sub-brands of baby diapers, from Little Snugglers to Snug and Dry to Overnight to Skin Essentials, pants-style and dispense with the tape-on method altogether.

EVERY LIFE DIAPERS

More than just being prolife, this company's product actually has to be better than the hundred billion brands of disposable baby diaper out these days. The commercials say Every Life are soft, nontoxic and offer twelve hour leak protection, but all brands claim that these days.

The thing about them I can truly get behind is how they offer sponsorships for clients of crisis pregnancy centres. Rather than depend on enough of a certain size diaper to have been donated, thanks to Every Life, a woman in a crisis pregnancy situation can now be sure she will have diapers from baby's birth to their second birthday. 

Update: OK, here's a short about how Every Life prevent blowouts.

HUGGIES LITTLE MOVERS HUGGFIT 360

So Huggies has brought back its pants-style diaper after discontinuing Slip-ons a few years ago. 

That's what I thought they were going to do. With Pampers Cruisers 360 doing well, they didn't really have a choice.

Besides, due to the growing population of immigrants from countries where diapers haven't traditionally been used or where children are in them a lot shorter, it just made sense to continue manufacturing a diaper that could be pulled up and down. 

Better to retail it in the style of the brand they already marketed for mobile babies as Pampers does than to sell them as a separate diaper like before. 

LISTENERS HUG THE MIX DURING DIAPER DRIVE

Half the applicable parents in Chicago struggle to afford diapers?! Holey moley!

DON'T PEE IN THE SHOWER, PEOPLE!

New York Post

 

Most people are guilty of doing this in the shower — but experts warn it’s incredibly dangerous: ‘Don’t do it’

By Fabiana Buontempo

Published June 15, 2025, 3:17 p.m. ET

 

What you do in the shower is your business, but there’s one specific thing experts wish people would stop doing while sudsing up: peeing.

 

One health care expert shared in a now-viral TikTok with over 1 million views that emptying your bladder while standing in the shower can be damaging — especially for women.

 

“Hot take but don’t pee standing up in the shower or anywhere for that matter. Ladies, you are training your bladder that it’s okay to empty while standing. Don’t do it! This could cause bladder leakage,” @kingsley.502 wrote as her caption.

 

As expected, people ran to the comment section to share their opinions on this advice.

 

“My body created a human… I’m gonna let her tinkle wherever she likes,” one commenter wrote.

 

“I can’t even enjoy the simple pleasures in life,” shared another frustrated person.

 

“Meanwhile sitting for too long messes with our pelvic floor. So what actually is ok anymore?” said someone else, making a valid point.

 

It’s no surprise that this news is upsetting for many, considering almost a quarter of Americans admit to peeing in the shower regularly, according to a survey.

 

Unfortunately for these multitasking people, @kingsley.502 wasn’t far off with her opinion on shower peeing — as other experts backed up her claims.

 

“It is one, not very hygienic, but more important than that, it will destroy your pelvic floor, and also it might create mental associations where you hear water running and all of a sudden you need to run to the bathroom,” Houston OBGYN Emma Qureshey explained in a TikTok.

 

And standing while peeing is not only unhealthy for women — it’s also dangerous for men.

 

Since the pelvis and spine muscles are most relaxed when sitting, Gerald Collins, a consultant urological surgeon at Alexandra Hospital in Cheshire, England, said that “sitting is probably the most efficient way of doing it [peeing].”

 

Standing while urinating also puts men at risk for benign prostatic hyperplasia — which occurs when the prostate gland and surrounding tissue expand, obstructing the urethra.

 

Sadly, for many men, the thought of sitting while peeing is looked down upon.

 

In Germany, those who don’t stand to relieve themselves are called “Sitzpinkler” — a slur implying they are “wimpy or effeminate.”

AH: It also corrodes the pipes, which you especially don't need if you have hard water.