A toilet that has been designed to slope downwards slightly, making it awkward to sit on it for a long period, has been pooh-poohed on social media.
The toilet has been designed with an upper surface that slopes downwards at a 13-degree angle.
The designer behind the toilet, Mahabir Gill, which has been branded “StandardToilet,” said that,
“It came from my personal experience where I stopped off at the motorway to go to the loo and realised there’s a huge queue,” he explained.
“I wondered what people were doing in there; some were coming out with their mobile phones.”
Mr Gill stated that a prototype of the toilet had been built and he has tested it.
Gill also added that the angle is between 11 degrees, where staying seated for more than 15 minutes is comfortable, and 13 degrees, where “five to seven” minutes is the maximum.
However, the idea has been met with withering humour online.
Some people have joked that they will try to “defeat” the slanted bowl with an apparatus placed on top of it so that the seat can be level.
“If it is real I think it’s a perfect representation of the disdain capitalism has for workers and for human beings,” Hilary Gardiner, who uses Twitter username @plume__, told the BBC.
“Current toilet seats provide a horizontal seating surface,” the website says. “This enables a user to sit relatively comfortably on the toilet.”
“As a result, a user may spend longer than necessary sitting on the toilet without short-term discomfort. Sitting on a toilet for longer than is necessary is generally undesirable.”
Social media users have also questioned whether the toilet would be difficult for people with bowel conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or Crohn’s disease or back and knee problems.
However, managing director of the British Toilet Association, Raymond Martin, defended the toilet design, and described the online backlash as “a bit of a knee-jerk reaction”.
“There are certain places where this time limit will be useful,” he told the BBC.
