This article was published on September 9, 2011

Survey says Brits would prefer to live without a toilet than without Facebook


Survey says Brits would prefer to live without a toilet than without Facebook

Yes, you read that correctly. In a recent study by London Science Museum, the 3,000 adults surveyed revealed that Facebook ranked 5th out of 50 things they couldn’t live without. In fact, Facebook ranks right up there with sunshine and clean drinking water.

The results were meant to point towards the science museum’s latest exhibition, Water Wars: Fight The Food Crisis, which showcases a need for fresh water to grow crops, along with the emerging technologies meant to help solve the problem. One of the more shocking results: Internet connection is more valuable to those polled than clean water.

Science Museum Exhibition Manager, Sarah Richardson, appeared to be equally astonished.

“Brits are obsessed by the weather, so it’s not surprising sunshine was rated as the top thing we couldn’t live without. But to say you can’t live without material things over drinking water is crazy.

It seems having fresh drinking water is something that many of us take for granted but is becoming scarcer in many parts of the world. If you see how little water others have to drink or grow food you soon realise water is fast becoming a luxury for millions.”

Below, take a peek at a few more shocking findings.

Full survey results:

  1. Sunshine
  2. Internet connection
  3. Clean drinking water
  4. Fridge
  5. Facebook
  6. NHS
  7. Cooker
  8. Email
  9. Flushing toilet
  10. Mobile phone / smartphone
  11. Tea and Coffee
  12. Washing machine
  13. Shower
  14. Central heating
  15. Painkillers
  16. Fresh vegetables
  17. Vacuum Cleaner
  18. Kettle
  19. Sofa
  20. Shoes
  21. Fresh fruit
  22. Google
  23. Car
  24. Hair straighteners
  25. Public transport
  26. Laptop
  27. Chocolate
  28. DVD Player
  29. Wristwatch
  30. Make-up
  31. Flat screen TV
  32. Wedding ring
  33. Tumble dryer
  34. Bottled water
  35. Ebay
  36. Bicycle
  37. Ipod
  38. Air conditioning
  39. Disposable nappies
  40. Light bulbs
  41. Spell-check
  42. Sat Nav
  43. Push-up bra
  44. Nintendo Wii
  45. iPad
  46. Gym Membership
  47. Season ticket to your football club
  48. Freezer
  49. Xbox
  50. Twitter

Which of these results shock you the most? For us, Facebook being more important than lightbulbs sounds like a bit of a stretch, doesn’t it? Sound off below.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with


Published
Back to top