A pile of poop (emoji) can actually save people's lives. Check this app out.
We sh*t you not.
Fact: More people in the world have cellphones than have access to a toilet.
Yeah. That means more people can type the word "toilet" with their thumbs than can actually use one. It's a situation that's hard to fathom for many of us — but it's a very real problem for the rest.
Art by Nick Chaffe as part of #TheShitShow.
Out of the more than 7 billion people here on our precious planet Earth, at least 6 billion of us have access to mobile phones. Meanwhile, according to the UN, fewer than 5 billion have access to working toilets.
These might seem like wholly dissimilar statistics, but ... what if the 6 billion of us with cellphones could actually use them to help solve the toilet problem?
Well, about that:
Who knew the poop emoji could be so powerful?
WaterAid has launched a phone app (with a campaign appropriately titled "Give a Shit") for World Toilet Day that lets you use everyone's favorite emoji to raise awareness while also helping provide toilets to people in need.
This is a thing that's happening.
315,000 kids die every year from diarrhea caused by unsafe sanitation. They are not living to see their fifth birthday because of something that can easily be prevented. More people with access to toilets means fewer kids dying from causes related to diarrhea.
This app — the WaterAid Emoji Creator — and the poop emoji are basically saving lives. Yeah. It's that important.
The premise of the Give a Shit app is simple: You use it to decorate a poop emoji and send it to your friends.
This is a dream for some people. Yes, it's silly, but c'mon, nothing says personalization quite like this:
It's all fun and games, but the app has the potential to solve a big problem, especially for women and girls.
Lack of toilets and unsanitary conditions affect children the most. But a lack of private toilets means that girls are more likely drop out of school, a problem made worse once they get their periods. And once girls have dropped out of school, they and the women in their communities often spend much time in their day walking long distances to collect water that isn't even clean.
It doesn't have to be this way. There are a lot of organizations working to solve these problems, but thanks to the Give A Shit app you can contribute to the cause in your own small way with just a few taps of your screen.
So who's with us? Let's #GiveAShit together and make toilets and clean water accessible for everyone.
This personalized poop emoji loves music and pizza. What will your poop emoji look like?
The app is available for iPhone (and the Android version is coming soon), so what are you waiting for? Download it and start sharing your #giveashit personalized emojis with the world.
Learn more about WaterAid's campaign and the app here:
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."