It seems to me that there is all sorts of interesting statistical information that can be collected about my regular habits and routines. Well, interesting to me, at least. This smartphone app would aid in discovering these patterns, by collecting copious amounts of data about my day. It would normally sit idly in the background recording information on my location, speed, amount of motion, etc. Throughout the day, I could log events as they came up, like so:
Thursday: 11:27 - Started feeling hungry 12:14 - Left to get lunch 12:22 - Arrived at El Taco Grande for lunch 12:26 - Ordered a Burrito Loco 12:31 - Burrito arrived 12:44 - Finished meal, left restaurant 12:54 - Arrived back at work
And so on throughout the day. All of this data would be synched to a computer, where it could then be analyzed for trends. For example, after logging sufficient data, I might discover that traffic is worse at lunch on Thursdays, or at this particular restaurant burritos take significantly longer to make than tacos (but only before 1:00), or that I spend longer at lunch earlier in the week rather than later, or that I prefer eating Mexican food when I'm working on a certain type of project.
Interesting trends might also pop up about my commute, or other aspects of my life. I might discover that, for every minute after 8:00 I leave for work, my commute is on average 25 seconds longer. Taking it to the next step, it might even be possible, for certain types of data (such as the restaurant example above), to share such information anonymously with other users, allowing a much more detailed picture to be formed.
What would be the point of all of this information? It may not be terribly useful in the end, but it might at least help prove or disprove things I've always suspected about my daily routine, but have never had a simple way to test. Who knows—I might even discover something about myself I never knew!
Although, more likely it'll just turn me into an even more neurotic, statistically obsessed version of myself.-- ytk, Jan 31 2012 // Although, more likely it'll just turn me into an even more neurotic, statistically obsessed version of myself. //
Grim and disturbing indeed, but at least you have a bright future as a professional baseball commentator.-- 8th of 7, Jan 31 2012 Lots of signal, even more noise.-- hippo, Jan 31 2012 //at least you have a bright future as a professional baseball commentator.//
Yikes. I hadn't considered that my neurosis might ever rise to that level.
If this ever gets baked, just to be safe I may have to leave strict instructions with my family to put me down should I ever start showing the slightest interest in professional sports. It's for my own good.-- ytk, Jan 31 2012 It's an intriguing point that the travel time to and from the establishment is more than the time taken to eat the food.-- DenholmRicshaw, Jan 31 2012 12:57 - Fell asleep-- hippo, Jan 31 2012 //It seems to me that there is all sorts of interesting statistical information that can be collected about my regular habits and routines.//
//All of this data would be synched to a computer, where it could then be analyzed for trends.//
I'm sure Google would love to bake this...-- Wrongfellow, Feb 01 2012 //all sorts of interesting statistical information // sp: all sorts of statistics. I'm all in favour of pointless statistics but an idea about trendy apps just brings out the curmudgeon in me. --- DrBob, Feb 01 2012 7:00 am: began gazing at navel. 7:04: noticed and admired how navel displays radial symmetry, contemplated meaning of similarity to symmetry of spiral galaxies 7:13 noticed navel made a funny gurgle noise, went to fridge, only found dead fish...-- RayfordSteele, Feb 01 2012 You took 4 minutes to decide on the burrito loco?-- bungston, Feb 02 2012 You took 4 minutes to decide on the burrito loco? What were you _really_ doing during those 4 minutes?-- bungston, Feb 02 2012 Have you ever BEEN to El Taco Grande at lunchtime? It's a bloody madhouse!
I'm honestly not sure why I keep eating there, since I left one item off the list above: 12:55 — Mad dash for the restroom-- ytk, Feb 02 2012 Naah, he'd get sidetracked by the asymmetrical loading of the tamales, have a hissy fit, and have to be sedated.-- 8th of 7, Feb 02 2012 random, halfbakery