Automatic toilets were ultimately created to benefit people as the idea was to prevent germs. However, they pose major issues when it comes to the inaccuracy of the sensor. The main problem is that the toilet flushes at the wrong time (either too soon or too late), and while most times this only leads to minor inconveniences, there are times when this creates life or death situations.
Small annoyances include the toilet not flushing at all. No matter how many times you wave your hand over the sensors, it just does not seem to detect anything. This causes a person to leave hoping that the toilet flushes itself before the next person uses it. While this embarrassment is avoidable, there are other situations that are a bit more than just an inconvenience.
For example, you finish using the toilet and without initially realizing it, something falls out of your pocket, whether it is your credit card, key or phone. Suddenly, without having enough time to decide whether you should grab your item or not, the toilet makes your decision for you and flushes, making it extremely difficult to retrieve your valuables. But this is not the worst that could happen. In fact, automatic flushing toilets can lead to a more serious matter.
A more severe scenario is when people examine their waste products to make sure they are drinking enough water or if one has to monitor their waste for blood or other matter. For some sensors, it is too sensitive and if you make any motions, the toilet will quickly flush without being able to observe any abnormalities. Blood in urine is a sign of a kidney stone, urinary tract infection, and even several different forms of cancer. With automatic flushing toilets, it will be harder to detect symptoms which could easily lead to even more health issues.
Finally, an important but underemphasized concern for automatic flushing toilets is during a school or any other public place shooting. It is sad to even link the two together, and while the chances of being in a stall with an automatic flushing toilet are slim, it still poses a life or death situation. In elementary school, students are told to stand on toilet seats during a code red drill. Unfortunately, school shootings are not uncommon these days, and it is sad that this.
Installing automatic toilets does not make any sense whatsoever. Some feature a button that overrides the sensors which essentially defeats the purpose of it in the first place. Altering the toilet sensors is one solution to this, however, it is near impossible to get the perfect timing on them. At first, the technological advancement of the toilet seemed great; no one will forget to flush and fewer germs are spread, but it is clear that automatic toilets may do more harm than good.
