Revolver Labs

Purpose: To see if homo sapiens really need a cell phone, or if Times Square just leads us to think we do.

Objective: Not to use, check, or carry my cell phone for one week. The only time I touched my phone once the experiment started was to hide it from myself behind my lockbox in my room.

Hypothesis: Humans do in fact need a cell phone if they have already had one.

Theory: Cell phones are an addiction, they completely consume the mind when they are not present.

Organization: Data collected will be displayed in chronological order from February 15-February 22, 2008. The second portion of the data collected will be texts, missed calls, and voicemails that accumulates on my phone during the week.

Day 1: February 15, 2008

8:00 am-Felt rather weird not having a phone in my pocket. Was in the library doing some homework. I was worried that I would be late to class because there was not a clock that I could see in the vicinity.

9:55 to 11:05 am-Second class went by fast. Teacher unplugged clock so that we would not know the time.

12:00 to 3:00 pm-The first three hours of work has gone extremely fast

*I, putting it very bluntly, do not know what time it is!*

3:05 pm-I wonder if anyone has tried to call me.

3:55 pm-I am still wondering if anyone has called. I could be missing the vibrations that came with calls and/or texts.

4:45 pm-I informed Dr. Watts of my experiment. She laughed at the idea. She informed that she has sent me a text message earlier.

5:30 pm-I am wondering what the success of the experiment. Will I accidentally sabotage the experiment by grabbing my phone subconsciously in the morning? My habit when taking off in the morning is to confirm that I have my wallet, phone, keys, bag, water bottle, and a lighter. Feels weird purposely removing a chain in the link.

6:05 pm-Could have sworn that I felt a vibration coming from my pocket. Quickly realized that I did not have my cell phone. Was working on an open item when it occurred. A possible human reaction to the comfort of having a cell phone (especially while working) is that when the phone vibrates you can connect to something outside of work while working at a mundane task at hand.

7:00 pm-Boredom has set in, when there is nothing to do at work I can always escape off to small appliances and send a text to someone.