What Does the Future Hold for Toilet Partitions?

Let’s face it, we’re not actively thinking about the variety of things that surround us day to day. These things however constantly go through changes, some small some huge and we all take notice. How about the humble toilet partition? It’s a piece of material used to separate or enclose around a toilet for privacy during use. Has it changed much or will it always be this mysterious piece that somehow always fails to address that little gap that even so small, makes us nervous.

To look into the future, I suppose we need to look into the past. Were toilet partitions always used? As a matter of fact they weren’t. They’re a somewhat recent development in restroom privacy around 1900s that replaced actual rooms that were trying to make up for the older room of toilet seats era. Many used to be made of wood sheets at first followed by doors with slats for air flow. Earlier versions of toilet dividers included curtains, thin tin sheets, marble slabs, wood framed enclosures with wooden doors, cardboard and even crudely nailed wood planks.

The future of toilet partitions is undecided but if we are to follow trends we could easily begin to speculate an interesting conversion of digital tech and commercial products. Maybe a restroom stall that interfaces with your smartphone or next smart device and allows you the ability to use a touch screen surface as your phone or other device without having to get your actual device dirty. Also using the smart interface could change the lighting and color to each user’s personalized setting. Maybe even weight sensors that will remind you once it detects a user leaves the stall and it detects weight still it says “they left an item” before they actually leave the item.

Possibly even smart partitions that remember who you are and can do things like warm the toilet seat, adjust the lighting, even show news and events on a personalized display.

The material a bathroom stall is made of could change, maybe also the design. Privacy could be huge in the future. We look forward to anything that replaces the huge gap at the bottom and the skinny side gap that we all look at others as they walk into the restroom through. Aside from smart accessories connected to the internet that can order new refills themselves when low and partitions with built in wifi and touchscreens, there is no telling what else might become reality.