They must be round the U-bend: Facebook more vital than having a flushing loo, 

say Britons

 

Here’s a status update that some will find truly shocking – being connected on Facebook is more important than having a flushing loo, according to a survey.

The study, by London’s Science Museum, asked 3,000 adults what they couldn't live without and Facebook ranked fifth, with flushing loos ninth.
Being on the internet came second, with sunshine the clear winner.

The museum's Exhibition Manager, Sarah Richardson, described the survey results as 'crazy'.

Having clean water came third in the One Poll study, owning a fridge fourth and the NHS sixth.

A cooker was considered fairly important, lying in seventh place, with email eighth and possessing a mobile phone viewed as a good call – that came in at tenth.

The survey was carried out in conjunction with the Science Museum’s new exhibition, Water Wars: Fight The Food Crisis.

It points out that many people don’t have fresh water to grow crops and showcases new technologies being developed to solve the water scarcity problem.

It hopes to use the survey results to underline how those in the West take many aspects of their lives for granted.

Ms Richardson expressed her astonishment at the results.

She said: ‘Brits are obsessed by the weather, so it’s not surprising sunshine was rated as the top thing we couldn’t live without. But to say you can’t live without material things over drinking water is crazy.

‘It seems having fresh drinking water is something that many of us take for granted but is becoming scarcer in many parts of the world. If you see how little water others have to drink or grow food you soon realise water is fast becoming a luxury for millions.'

The survey also revealed that Britons value a full cleavage, with the push-bra being the 43rd thing they can’t live without.

But it’s not as important as straight locks – because hair straighteners easily beat it, coming in at No24 in the study.

Apparently, we like precise writing, too, because computer spell-checks claimed the 41st spot. The top 50 was completed by Facebook rival Twitter.

THE RESULTS IN FULL

1. Sunshine 2. Internet connection 3. Clean drinking water 4. Fridge
5. Facebook 6. NHS  7. Cooker 8. Email 9. Flushing toilet 10. Mobile phone / smartphone 11. Tea and Coffee 12. Washing machine 13. Shower 14. Central heating 15. Painkillers 16. Fresh vegetables 17. Vacuum Cleaner 18. Kettle 19. Sofa 20. Shoes 21. Fresh fruit 22. Google 23. Car 24. Hair straighteners 25. Public transport 26. Laptop 27. Chocolate 28. DVD Player 29. Wristwatch 30. Make-up 31. Flat screen TV 32. Wedding ring 33. Tumble dryer 34. Bottled water 35. Ebay
36. Bicycle 37. Ipod 38. Air conditioning 39. Disposable nappies
40. Light bulbs 41. Spell-check 42. Sat Nav 43. Push-up bra 44.        Nintendo Wii 45. iPad 46. Gym Membership 47. Season ticket to your football club 48. Freezer 49. Xbox 50. Twitter

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