When stressed, humans search differently. They type faster and skip steps they might otherwise take in entering terms and refining search strings. The Safari browser on the iPhone has a nifty feature that makes any phone number clickable. So, when searching for a restaurant to make reservations, I can usually click the number in the search results and call the restaurant.
This feature in Safari works well, until I was stressed the other day at the Amtrack train station in High Point. The train arrived late and the person wasn’t waiting there. We had a tight schedule for an important meeting a few towns away, therefore I was frantically searching for the website of the company this person worked for to find her phone number. Instead of waiting for the search results to complete, I held the phone up to my head after clicking search. As if the iPhone could skip a few steps and connect me right through to the phone number in the top search result. So now I’m thinking that in the future, the “I’m feeling lucky” button will actually be a useful feature.
