The Prolapsed Anus Issue of Doomscrolling on the Toilet

Did you know sitting on the toilet while doom-scrolling on your phone could be causing serious health issues for your anus?

A new study says that individuals who use their phone on the toilet have a 46% higher chance developing hemorrhoids. The main issue isn't just the phone itself, the study says, but the increased strain on rectal veins. 

The AGA Clinic backed the studies findings, stating: "A study found that individuals who use smartphones during bathroom visits have a 46% higher risk of hemorrhoids compared to those who do not" (AGA, 2026).

"Scrolling smartphones while sitting on the toilet is believed to be one of the reasons predisposing to hemorrhoidal disease..." the study says. "It may be time to designate the washroom as a smartphone-free zone ... especially in the young generation to prevent this issue from becoming an epidemic in the future." (Bhattacharya et al., 2024). 

Everyone's favorite past-time of scrolling Reddit, reading about how some teenager is dating a 40-year old man and wondering if she's the AH for wanting to break things off after he threatened to kill her entire family with a shovel, is actually one of the most harmful behaviors we can do to our sensitive area. With colon cancer already on the rise for Gen Z, this, and microplastics, are just more ammunition on the war on young assholes. 

What isn't the smartphone causing problems with? Attention spans, anxiety, depression, ADHD, and now anal fissures and hemorrhoids?! 

This is why I decided to ditch my smartphone and go completely No-Phone for the next year, or more. I knew there would be a lot of health benefits, hell I'm already feeling some such as better sleep quality and less anxiety ... but I never knew my butthole would improve, too.

Thanks, internet! Protect your asshole and ditch the phone! That's what this blog is all about: going no-phone. Let's do it together. If you like this content, consider Subscribing by opening the sidebar on your left and Clicking Subscribe under the "Join the Movement" tab. It motivates me to keep writing! Thanks to my 4 subscribers: Kelsey, Sarai, Sage, and Rae!

Oh, and here's a fun tidbit about smartphones in the study: "The University of London concluded that 1 in 6 smartphones were contaminated with fecal matter" (Bhattacharya et al., 2024).

Mhmmm, smartphones! How sophisticated! 

1 in 6 smartphones was contaminated with

faecal matter

1 in 6 smartphones was contaminated with

faecal matter"

Resources (APA style since I'm finishing my senior year at a Master's program and my $50,000 tuition needs to go to flexing my new research prowess somewhere):

Bhattacharya, K., Bhattacharya, N., Bhattacharya, A. S., Yagnik, V. D., & Garg, P. (2024). Toilet scrolling: A predisposing factor for haemorrhoids? National Board of Examinations Journal of Medical Sciences, 2(5), 507–510. https://doi.org/10.61770/nbejms.2024.v02.i05.011

For the normal among us, you can click here to read the study PDF.

AGA Article here.