I mean, if you want an answer to that you could just stop using your smartphone for a few weeks and see what your brain comes up with. Here’s a short list of some examples that were popular when I was a kid and smartphones did not exist yet:
Magazines, the daily newspaper, books, going out and exploring, shopping at malls, doing a hobby or craft, personal projects, television, chit-chatting with friends or even strangers, video games, puzzles, play with your pets, exercise, play sports, sitting quietly and being alone with your thoughts.
For toilet time there was riveting reading material such as: Shampoo ingredients. Hand soap ingredients. Bodywash ingredients. The latter two assuming it wasn’t bar soap.
Maybe someone was around to bring you a magazine… or tell you to hurry up and finish and get it yourself.
Clearly I don’t read even now, as my comment is a more or less the same as others here, and a day late.
Drugs.
I remember reading any text i found while beeing on toilette when i was a kid(even shampoo ingredients).
Ah, the panic of having to use the bathroom so severely you can’t make it to your book or magazine in time. Oh look, I wonder what Methyllaurelsulfate does?
I always thought the bathroom reader books were tacky and stupid, then a I got a couple and they came in clutch so many times.
Now that I have a phone, I think it’s kinda gross to have items out for everyone to touch while using the toilet. Weird how perception changes.
Methylisothiazolinone, what mysteries do you hide?
yea same I was reading everything that vaguely resembled a string of characters
I was getting my vehicle worked over recently. At the time I was listening to a podcast. A couple other people, probably early 50s were chatting. The old dude in the corner, likely around 70-80 was just sitting there hands empty, looking around, reading nothing like some kind of psychopath.
For 40 minutes.
He did nothing.
It was honestly rather impressive.
I would have called the cops
Whoaaa whoa, whoa now. I don’t want the block demolished. Psycho old man strength vs shooty patootie police? I was just there for an oil change and to check on some potential damage.
In addition to reading ….
As a kid, we were constantly outside. In the summer, spend all day in the pool. Three seasons, in the woods. Any time, playing with neighbor kids. Winter, skiing, sledding, snow forts
Without doom scrolling, we had time for actual activities. Marathons of Risk or Monopoly. Assembling and painting scale models. Building, fixing, or repairing whatever needed it
masturbate maybe
Read books, play videogames, go outside and beat each other with sticks…
I used to draw anytime there wasn’t something to do, which was most of the time. Now it’s my job
When I was about 13 I downloaded a lot of the Simpsons or sort on my phone, which was not a smartphone but still could play videos and songs. Had a lot of great time with that little device.
I’m pretty sure no one knows this phone because I think it was for South Korea only but it had dedicated touch button bar at the bottom for media control. It was so good. I wish that is still a thing…
Read.
Having sex. Maybe.
Don’t judge me, it’s all about statistics.
Same thing I do now. TV, video games, find something to do with friends.
Listen the ringtones and play games I have on my Nokia cell phone
Let me tell you a tale about downloading erotic jpeg files over 28k modems and stitching them back together, in which the image file was split into pieces, uuencoded and posted on Usenet.
I used to grab anything I could to read when taking a shit. Even reading shampoo bottle labels. Now I’m here typing this mess to you guys as I take a dump.
I prefer the phrase ‘giving a dump’, because I sure don’t seem to be taking anything away from the transaction.
Alas I have digressed. I too indulged in the literary expositions of the shampoo bottle. Conditioner only on Fridays.
Same. I’d go through cabinets to find shit to read.
Pinch it and GTFO! Others need to use the bathroom too!
