Its a tongue-in-cheek comment

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/tongue-...

(Not mocking, I just really liked the explanation and it happened to be the same site)

Seems awfully wasteful. In many (most?) parts of the the middle east you pay for water in a shower and you get 10 minutes. It's usually extremely cheap, but the added realization of water being a limited resources promotes people to be more waterwise.

I wish this was common in the US too but consumption by the American consumer is the most sacrosanct thing in the current world order. As Bush said "The American lifestyle is non-negotiable". Even while the world burns

By only reading HN in the shower I limit the time wasted on browsing HN to a couple of hours a day.