For a social experiment in the Netherlands, Vodafone ‘lost’ 100 phones to see what would happen to them. They tracked the GPS-equipped phones and created a microsite to provide lots of stats about how many were returned and what they are used for.

During ‘The Lost Phone Experiment’, Vodafone reports that 29 of the phones were returned to the owner but sadly the other 71 disappeared or were stolen. The site shows the average time it takes for a phone to be picked up (20 minutes) and who is more likely to return a phone (men:75%, women:25%).

It also reveals what number someone is most likely to call from the phone’s contacts to try to return it. When the choice is between home, Mom, or Dad, over half of people will get in touch with the owner’s Mom.

The Lost Phone Experiment