Which city is the best in which to lose your phone?

Filed in archive Lifestyle on August 8, 2007

In which city of the world would be the best city in which to lose your phone? Now that is a difficult question, unless you are a Reader's Digest researcher who purposely "lost" 30 phone in each of 32 cities of the world.

How would you react on seeing an unattended ringing phone on the side-walk? Would you pick it up and put it in your pocket? Would you answer the phone and see who is calling? And would you return it to its owner if you found the owner by answering the phone?

To get the answer reporters in 32 countries "lost" 30 phone each, from Auckland, New Zealand to Zürich, Switzerland. A phone was dropped in a heavily used public area, and was then called by a reporter looking on from a distance. When someone answered the phone, the reporter was asked whether she/he would return the phone. If the person picked up the phone without answering it the reporter watched as the finder pocketed the phone and walked away.

The best cities where the phone was returned included Helsinki, Finland. The worst was hong Kong.

So which city do you think you would likely get your phone back? Read the article for more information about this behavioral experiment.