mbarker: (BrainUnderRepair)
'nother Mike ([personal profile] mbarker) wrote2011-10-21 03:37 pm
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16% and 76%?

Here's a fun bit from the news today. In some kind of sidewalk survey (no, they didn't go into details about how they got these numbers), the news people report that:

1. 16% of smartphone users say they have run into someone while looking at their smartphone.
2. 76% of people walking in the street say someone looking at their smartphone has run into them.

Now, even assuming that the reports of something like 50% of the people having smartphones are correct, there's something funny about those numbers. Either the folks who are looking at their smartphones are running into a heck of a lot of people, or maybe they aren't remembering how often they bump people? Or maybe the people who are just walking have a different idea of what "run into" means?

Maybe some of each?

The reporter didn't even seem to notice that having a very small percentage run into a very large percentage seems inconsistent.

Is this what they mean by encounters of the smart phone kind?
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[identity profile] saruby.livejournal.com 2011-10-21 01:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps it is only that the 16% are excessively clumsy and have run into people multiple times. If they only asked "Have you ever run into someone while using your smartphone?" the answer would be the same for the person who did it once and the person who did it a dozen times. Poor question formation. Also, a very unscientific survey, I imagine.

I want to note here that I have never run into someone while using my iPhone (ok, a couple of close calls, but we didn't actually collide).

[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com 2011-10-22 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
Most of these sidewalk surveys are not very careful, but the results are fun. Number of collisions would be a good extension. I suspect part of the problem is that the close calls and brushes which the iPhone user brushes off or forgets almost immediately may be considered more irritating by others. There's also a bit of self-reporting bias here -- I may not remember running into someone, especially since that means I made a mistake, but all those other people probably remember every incident. Anyway, funny numbers.
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