Shocking percentage of Brits admit to going to the toilet in a virtual work meeting

Whether you're a fan of it or not, technology has opened the door to the not-so-fine art of multitasking.

When the national lockdown forced most of our work meetings to go virtual, many of us found ourselves taking advantage of multitasking at home.

But, where is the line drawn? Like, how many people are juggling the call of nature while stuck in a virtual meeting?

The civil thing to do is to wait until the meeting's over, but sometimes meetings can last for hours. You can try slip out for a few minutes, whilst hoping you don't get unexpectedly called upon for a response.

21% of 18-29 year-olds admitted to using the toilet whilst on a virtual work meeting / seksan Mongkhonkhamsao / Getty

A study by YouGov gathered the statistics. It's true that 12% of Brits admit that they go to the toilet whilst in a virtual meeting - that's about one in eight people!

And that's not just involving those who leave their devices when they need to do the deed, but also those who bring their laptops along for the experience.

The study highlighted that the younger generation is the most to blame, specifically 18-29 year-olds.

A surprising 21% of virtual meeting users in this age group confessed to combining work meetings with bathroom breaks - a figure that dropped by half in the 30-39 age range.

Additionally, the survey found that 12% of men surveyed are comfortable multitasking in this manner, while 11% of women reported the same.

83% of workers disagree with blending both actions / StefaNikolic / Getty

Nevertheless, there's a large portion of people who disapprove of blending private actions during calls. In fact, 83% of workers have said that it is unacceptable and 64% consider it 'completely unacceptable.'

Only 15% believe it is acceptable to bring a meeting to the bathroom.

Whether you also admit to the sneaky move, or you downright find it distasteful, it's not that surprising to find out how glued we humans are to our devices.

Us Brits are inseparable from our tech, whether it's scrolling TikTok or finding the latest movie to stream, so much so that over half of us (59.2%) take our smartphones with us when we go to the loo.

Another study by NordVPN shed light on the activities that people tend to engage in while on the loo - for those who are interested!

Reading or listening to the news ranked as the second most popular activity, followed by staying updated on current affairs (33.9%) and using the time for life admin by messaging or even calling loved ones (24.5%). Yikes!