you stare at a wall.

Try it next time.

There used to be a basket full of old National Geographic, Newsweek, and GQ magazines in the bathroom for you and any guests to enjoy.

My grandparents had like a basket full of magazines, comic books, etc beside the toilet. It was pretty good. They often buy weekly reader's digest and stuff like that. So it was usually new every time we visit.

We read a book or sat in silence with our thoughts. Most great ideas were created on the toilet.

Archie comic books.

In our pants. Toilets came out around the same time as smartphones, so it’s been a pretty revolutionary couple of decades around here.

Books.

We did not.

LOL. Playboy magazine. 70% was real articles. When you weren't pooping you wood use the other 15%.

I would stare out windows a lot while I was in the bathroom. If you stare at leaves in a tree and let your eyes unfocus you can see patterns and shapes. Sort of like looking for shapes in clouds.

For bathrooms without windows I think I would just use my imagination. I've got a fairly vivid one and just think about random stuff a lot.

It's hard to remember though. I have heard about people reading the ingredients of chemicals while they go, but I've never personally done that.

Pooping shouldn’t be a drawn-out process. You’re better off keeping your toilet time to less than 10 to 15 minutes, says Gregory Thorkelson, M.D., a psychiatrist in the department of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh.

In fact, you should only make your way to the bathroom when the urge hits.

If the urge to poop isn’t there, you might be tempted to push or strain to try to get the job done.

And all that straining could lead to the development of hemorrhoids—bulging blood vessels around your anus that can become swollen and painful or even bleed.

https://www.menshealth.com/health/a19521086/time-spent-pooping/

In my childhood household, at all times, there were in-progress books on the back of the commode. You would simply select the one relevant to you.

Shampoo bottle label, obviously.

Gameboy Advance and then later a Nintendo DS or laptop and then a PSP or laptop towards the end right before I got my first smartphone lol

We were much more use to undistracted time

Learning French (Spanish in the US) by reading the back of the toothpaste bottles and whatnot. Newspapers, crosswords and magazines were very common in household washrooms.

Magazines and bird photo books

Also, fiber

Sears catalog.

Are you talking about back when the world wasn't in color?

I used to keep a book under the sink.

I had to poop really bad the other day. I had to make a run for it and didn't have time to grab my phone first. I was in and out in like 2 minutes!

Presumably on a toilet.