Pardon this 23 year old British gal for her ignorance but isn’t it a bit of a safety hazard?
What are you all desperate to hide so badly from your own friends/family that you would be willing to risk a medical emergency where no one can get to you?
Sorry if this is stupid. I can’t sleep and this question has been nibbling away at me ever since I took a year out to study in America around 3 years ago.
33 comments
I got this one folks… Masturbation. That’s it.
I don’t have kids, but I imaging a lock on the master bedroom door would be a must. Also when I lived at home with my parents my door didn’t have a lock.
Because we like privacy?
for privacy?
do you also think people who live alone in a house or apartment shouldn’t have locks?
Bedroom door locks can typically be unlocked by a paperclip or pin in an emergency.
The bedroom is where people change and do other very personal activities. People are bad at knocking so a little privacy enforcer can be a nice thing.
Sometimes when unrelated people are sharing a house bedrooms have real keyed locks – roommates steal things.
How is it a safety hazard? They’re like not even solid doors. It’s not the same as the front door.
Most locks are not the same security level as a front door. They are typically spring locks that could be “picked” with any straight object and at worst, could be easily broken by force in emergency . They don’t keep out more than the turning the handle when you didn’t know someone was in there, which is really all they’re intended for.
The locks on American bedroom doors are not deadbolt locks, they’re privacy locks. They’re simple latch locks that can be easily opened with a very little effort (an unfolded paperclip or a credit card).
Mostly they’re there for privacy – especially for parents who don’t want their children bursting into the bedroom while they’re naked or having sex.
My family moved into an older house that had some rooms that had been rented out in the past. My bedroom door had a deadbolt lock on it. This is not the norm in most American homes I have seen. Most have just a spring lock on the door handle that is easily defeated with a paperclip.
It won’t protect you from someone really trying to get in, you can pretty easily pop it open with a credit card, it’s mostly to give privacy and stop people from walking in on you.
Keep the kids out while we fuckin’
Most doors are able to be opened with a coat hanger or pokey tool kept on the top of the outside trim in true emergencies. Plus, you can pretty easily kick an inside door open.
Cause our damn parents are allergic to knocking before they enter and we like a crumb of privacy
Edit: also our inside doors can be unlocked pretty easily it only takes like a nail file or a long fingernail they aren’t like front door looks. Worst case scenario you could probably kick a hole in the door and reach through and unlock it. Inside doors aren’t built for security they just kind of separate rooms
I just like my privacy. I want someone to be forced knock/jiggle the door knob before I let them inside.
The door knobs have a hole in front, a small metal rod will pop the lock
For privacy. Locks on interior doors are usually very easy to unlock from the outside by putting a paperclip or something into a little hole on the other side
Do yall really not have locks on bedroom doors? What about bathroom doors?
I was not aware that bedrooms with locks were so common in the US, my parents house doesn’t have locks on the bedroom doors.
The locks are more of “locks” if you stick a paper clip in them they open. It’s privacy not really security
Because we don’t want to traumatize our kids. Nobody wants to have the image of their parents going at it burned in to their brain forever.
So here’s a few things you need to know. Firstly bedroom locks are not robust by design. Most can simply be opened with a screw driver, and some can be opened with a coin. Second interior doors are usually a hollow core door. Even if you couldn’t get the lock opened the door can be easily kicked in.
So as a kid I asked for a lock on my bedroom door because my little sister would go into my room and take all my toys out and play with them, but not put them away.
It was nice when I lived with roommates and they’d leave the front door unlocked or bring their shady friend over. Or when I lived alone in a sketchy neighborhood and was worried about someone breaking in without me hearing it. It was just a little extra peace of mind.
As far as safety hazards go, if it’s a true emergency, just about anyone can break open a bedroom door
Edit after reading your other comments about snooping—it’s not like there’s a key for these locks. The door is only locked while you’re actually in your room. It’s not to prevent snooping, it’s to prevent that “knock and walk in” scenario that parents especially like to do
Sometimes it’s nice to have sex without your six year old walking in
Just a safety and privacy feature. Mine only lock from the inside, and when I was in college, they usually locked from the outside with a key as well. This is mostly for keeping your stuff safe if you don’t happen to trust your roommates.
to lock the door. 🤷♂️
my wife always locks it when we bone up there because she never learnt stealth masturbation in her teens *like the rest of us*. 🤣
if you reach up on the door frame there’s usually a key. serious answer it’s meant to keep children out. seeing shit they shouldn’t see.
Virtually all doors have locks on them. Bedrooms, in particular, would seem to warrant them.
Pervs.
– In most homes they’re not “real” locks – Usually they have a little hole in the knob, push a paperclip/small screwdriver/”key” ([just a little metal pin](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/31Hcy4Ai2qL._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg)) in there and you can unlock it from the outside.
– Especially if there’s small kids in the house, often people just keep one or a few of those “keys” for that purpose handy – on top of one of the doorframes, in a kitchen drawer, etc.
– Interior doors are generally hollow and usually open inward. Most able bodied adults could kick/shoulder one open in about 5 seconds if they actually want in and don’t mind possibly causing some damage to the doorframe. Hell, I’ve *accidentally* done that before by tripping and lightly falling into one.
For more:
– If you’re not in a rush, the hinge pins are usually located on the hallway side and can typically be popped out pretty easily with a hammer + nail.
– Most of them are also easy to just slide a credit card or anything else thin and rigid into the jamb to open even when locked.
They’re not really for security; they can be opened by jiggling a card or paperclip in there and, worst case scenario, the door can be broken down pretty easily by basically anyone over the age of 11. They’re for privacy. Some people don’t understand the concept of “knock and wait for permission to enter,” especially small children and the parents of teenagers.
This isn’t a serious question guys. OP is taking the piss, as they say in their country.
I have lived in at least a dozen houses, and not one had locks on the bedroom doors.
Sex
I actually find it amusing what sticks out to some people. I completely get the question about the locking doors though. When I was a kid I figured out that I could lock or unlock any of bedrooms with a pen cap. I would only lock my bedroom door to make it appear like I was in there. And I would either jump out my window or just lock it with the cap and sneak out.
I actually don’t remember the last time I locked any of my doors, besides my front and back doors.
I mean, you can choose whether to lock the door or not. So if you are worried about a medical emergency, you don’t have to lock it, and if you want the extra layer of privacy, you can lock it. Having a lock just gives a choice. Why wouldn’t we want a choice? And most bedroom door locks are pretty easy to break if an emergency did arise. So it is not like some impenetrable barrier. Personally, I have a lock on my bedroom door but I don’t have to use it. Everyone in my house knows to knock before entering.