Facebook is more vital than a mobile phone, shower, toilet

The London Science Museum recently surveyed 3,000 adults asking them what things they couldn’t live without. There were a total of 50 items mentioned (full list below); here are the top ten, in order: sunshine, Internet connection, clean drinking water, fridge, Facebook, National Health Service (NHS), cooker, e-mail, flushing toilet, and mobile phone.

Yes, you read that correctly. Facebook ranked fifth! Residents of the UK consider only four things more important than Facebook. Two of them are actual human needs (sunshine and clean drinking water) and one is very closely related to a human need (fridge). The other one (Internet) is arguably becoming a human right and of course you need it to access Facebook.

The fact that Facebook was listed higher than e-mail does not surprise me, but things like NHS, flushing toilet, washing machine, shower, central heating, and air conditioning do. Facebook was also listed higher than products and services like Google, Ebay, iPod, Nintendo Wii, iPad, Xbox, and Twitter.

“Brits are obsessed by the weather, so it’s not surprising sunshine was rated as the top thing we couldn’t live without,” Sarah Richardson, Science Museum Exhibition Manager, told Daily Mail. “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 realize water is fast becoming a luxury for millions.”

The survey was carried out in conjunction with the Science Museum’s new exhibition, Water Wars: Fight The Food Crisis, which explores the problem of having enough fresh water to grow crops. It was meant to underline how Westerners take many aspects of their lives for granted. Survey respondents rated the Internet higher than fresh water.

1. Sunshine
2. Internet connection
3. Clean drinking water
4. Fridge
5. Facebook
6. NHS
7. Cooker
8. E-mail
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