Streaming service subscriptionsToilet-related ER visits in the US
The American streaming subscription and the American toilet-related ER visit have, between 2007 and 2022, diverged in opposite directions with uncomfortable precision (r = -0.958), and it is tempting to suggest a mechanism that involves binge-watching and postponement but probably wiser not to. Streams up; plumbing mishaps down. The modern bathroom is, at last, catching up to its own ambitions.
US streaming subscriptions grew from essentially zero in 2007 (Netflix's launch year) to over 247 million by 2022, comfortably exceeding the number of households; toilet-related ER visits (injuries from falls, slips, and the occasional lid misadventure) fell from about 40,000 per year to under 25,000 in the same window, a trend public health researchers attribute to newer toilet designs with stable hinges, better bathroom lighting in new homes, and the fact that fewer Americans are standing on toilets to change light bulbs now that everything is LED. Both improvements happened quietly, and both made the modern home a different kind of place from the one in 1990.
The subscription auto-renews. The bathroom, against modest odds, has become safer. Both are small quiet wins.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “Streaming service subscriptions” vs “Toilet-related ER visits in the US” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
