Guess what time it is, InfoFans, that's right,
it's challenge time! And that means only one thing- time to get
all up in your favorite lab rat's life and try to ruin- err, we mean, challenge him to
explore everyday mysteries for fun and profit! Today we're wondering what it's like to live
without your sight, so we're challenging him to live for three days with a blindfold. Yes, we know, three days is a cinch, but as
most of you know the world right now is a bit upside down, so we had to go easy. Now grab yourself a drink, sit down, and hang
tight for another awesome challenge! Day 1: Three days with a blindfold, even I
gotta admit that this challenge has me curious. I've always wondered how people adjust to
suddenly losing their sight, and what it's like to experience the world through your
other senses. Yesterday I spent the day thinking about just
how much we use our sight- we literally use it for everything. I suppose I could make a living without it,
since I know how to type, but it would've probably been pretty difficult to learn how
to type with no vision. Also, can you even imagine the spelling errors? You can forget about driving too, although
with Uber I guess that's not such a big deal either. But what about entertainment? It feels like the overwhelming majority of
our entertainment is made specifically with vision in mind, from movies to video games
to comic books, etc. I feel like this is going to be a pretty enlightening
challenge, though it does feel a bit daunting. Alright, I'm off to challenge-land now, I'll
report in on the end of my three days and let you know what life wearing a blindfold
for three days was like. End of Day 3: To say that the last three days
were a challenge would be a huge understatement. I mean, yes, they were a challenge because
that's pretty much what I do for a living but I meant that... you know what, you get
what I meant. Alright, day one. I started the challenge in the morning with
the aid of a black blindfold. A few folds of the fabric and it was definitely
pretty opaque, I couldn't see a thing the moment it went on. Now before the challenge started I tried my
best to mentally map out our apartment, because I knew I'd be in serious trouble wandering
around with a blindfold on all day. Turns out I sort of did a pretty crap job. The girlfriend's home for this challenge,
which I'm kind of glad about to be honest because after what I've been through I'm pretty
sure I would've killed myself if she hadn't been here. Starting on like, minute two of the challenge
I tried to walk out the bedroom to the living room and misjudged where the door actually
was by like three feet, running straight into the wall. This would very aptly set the tone for my
three day weekend. It pretty quickly dawned on me that my biggest
issue would be boredom. I busied myself responding to emails and work
stuff, which meant that the girlfriend had to read everything out loud for me and then
spell correct the word stew I typed out. Hey, in real life I'm a great speller, but
on a keyboard my hands move faster than my brain. After that we had breakfast, and I insisted
on making my own cereal after she helped guide me to the kitchen. That turned out to be a mistake, because I
poured my milk about a half foot away from the bowl and ended up drenching our poor dog
instead. That meant that the dog had to be bathed,
which I insisted on helping with because I need to get a feel for what real life is like
when you can't see. That also would be a mistake. At one point the girlfriend left the bathroom
to answer a phone call and I reached for what I thought was our dog's shampoo. When the girlfriend came back into the bathroom
she practically screamed in panic when she realized I was using her extremely expensive
body wash on the dog. And when I say “using” I mean like, a
ton of the stuff. I don't know what the crap that stuff is made
of, I just know that it makes her skin flawless and super soft- and it costs like $40 a bottle. Well, now our dog is pretty much the fluffiest,
softest pup in town because I seriously squirt like a quarter of the bottle on him. The girlfriend pretty much became my babysitter
at that point and watched me like a hawk. I insisted on learning the floor plan of the
apartment and that led to several stubbed toes and more than one bruise from running
into stuff. Eventually though by following one of our
walls, I could make it from the living room to the bedroom and then back out to the kitchen. Which was handy, because lunch time soon came
around. The girlfriend popped out to walk the dog
real quick, because that's probably something I definitely shouldn't be doing while blindfolded. No telling where we would end up, because
he's about the worst guide dog you could ever have and I swear he has attention deficit
disorder and is always wanting to go meet random people. Anyways, while she was gone I figured it would
be easy enough to make myself some mini corn dogs, so I groped my way to the fridge, managed
to find a baking sheet, and dumped a few mini dogs on it. I figured I knew the oven pretty well, so
I stuck the sheet in and cranked the oven to what I was sure had to be somewhere around
300 degrees. I mean, there's only so far the dial goes,
so if you stick it somewhere in between it should be a decent temperature for defrosting
corn dogs right? Wrong. Turns out I had set the oven to Broil, and
we only found out when the apartment started smelling like burning bread. The girlfriend pretty much banned me from
the kitchen from that point on. The rest of my day was pretty uneventful,
and even though I thought it would be pretty boring not being able to see, I was still
able to enjoy tv. It was almost funner to just hear the voices
and imagine the characters and situations the way I wanted to, although I do feel like
I missed a lot by not being able to see what was going on. Turns out the easiest thing to enjoy while
not being able to see though are sitcoms. They typically don't rely on visual gags,
so they're super easy to track through just hearing. The worst thing to enjoy? Action movies, especially superhero movies. I guess that makes sense. Alright, for day two I refused to stay stuck
inside the house all day. I wanted to experience the world, so I insisted
on joining the girlfriend for grocery shopping. In order to not look like a total idiot in
public, I had beforehand taken a pair of large black sunglasses and spray-painted the inside
of the lenses with black paint. Presto, bingo, worked like a charm. I couldn't see anything except for a little
bit in the periphery. If you think that's cheating, let me tell
you- you're dead wrong. I ran into at least two of those off-the-shelf
displays they hang on the aisles in grocery stores, scattering condiments and random crap
all over the floor as well as earning myself a decent bruise on my forehead. A store employee came rushing over and apologized
profusely, and it was then that I realized we probably shouldn't come back to this store
for a long time just in case people thought I was blind. I also realized my girlfriend is a terrible
guide, though to be honest I tend to be impulsive and not easy to keep a leash on- which by
the way is something she seriously considered. What can I say, I like to wander around. When we got home we went outside to lay by
the pool and relax for a bit. I know what you're thinking, and no I didn't
fall into the pool like some hilarious but completely predictable comedy film. What I did do though is manage to stick my
foot through the small slats on the deck chair I was laying on when I went to get up and
trip, throwing my hands out to catch myself and grabbing on to a small table, which came
crashing down with me. On top of that small table? The girlfriend's cell phone, which landed
on the floor completely unharmed. Except for upon hitting the floor it managed
to slide eight feet and straight into the deep end of the pool. Goodbye $800 Iphone. After that the girlfriend practically begged
me to just sit on the couch and in her own words, “Stay. Still.” She even offered to bring me literally everything
I needed if I would just stop flailing around the house, running into things, and destroying
expensive items. I swear that this challenge has given her
gray hairs. Ok, on day three we had to go back out in
public, because the girlfriend absolutely cannot be without a phone due to her job. The apple people said that if she had dropped
it in normal water, and not water with high chlorine content like a pool, it would've
had a pretty good chance of still working. That's when she very loudly pointed out that
she hadn't dropped it, but that it had been my fault. Ofcourse when she said this I was still wearing
my blind-person glasses, and very much looked like a blind person to pretty much everyone. This in turn ended up making her kind of look
like a giant dick to everyone in the store, and let me tell you, you don't need to see
people's faces to know when they're thinking someone's a dick. It's all in the tone. I pointed this out to her on the drive home
and she punched me in the arm. Hard. On my last day I got tired of sitting in front
of the tv, which kind of was the only thing I was really able to do over the last few
days. I know blind people can learn to read with
braille, and to be honest I really wish I'd been able to do that. I said that to the girlfriend on the last
day and she just kind of went quiet for a second before saying, “You know there's
audio books right?”. I didn't need to see her face to know that
she was looking at me like I was a complete idiot. And yes, I completely and totally forgot that
audiobooks existed. Anyways, because I got bored of the TV I just
made my way outside and sat next to our front door. I really love our new little apartment, sure
the rent is insane, but the small community is really nice, there's flowers literally
everywhere, and it's like a block away from the beach. I just sat there in my chair and took in all
the sounds of the local neighborhood with the sound of the surf in the distance. I also took in the smell of the salt air and
the flowers, and it kind of struck me how I normally don't pay attention to these things
at all. I can't remember the last time I just sat
there and fully enjoyed the warmth of the sun, the smell of the ocean and flowers around
me, and the sounds of waves in the background and our quiet little neighborhood. I know they say that when you lose one sense
your others overcompensate, and maybe this is what was going on. I can't tell for sure, but I do know that
I completely enjoyed just sitting there alone for a good hour. Finally it came time to take my blindfold
off, and see the world again for the first time in three days. Yes, I had even slept with the blindfold on-
except I unfolded it so it was much bigger and I didn't accidentally roll it off my face
in my sleep. When I finally got to see again my eyes were
super sensitive, and I immediately realized why this challenge was only three days long. I honestly think that going any longer than
that may have had serious consequences for my eye health. Guess the infographics show knows at least
somewhat what it's doing. I gotta tell you, I was happy to finally see
my girlfriend's face again after three days. It's weird seeing someone's face after so
long, you notice little tiny things that you missed in your memory. Sure, we've spent time apart, but we always
face time and there's pictures of us on all our social media plus all around the house. But spending three days with only a mental
picture of her face was just so strange, and when I took the blindfold off I just noticed
so many tiny things I guess I forgot. Like the way her smiles kind of tucks to one
side slightly, for instance. Or how her eyes squint when she's happy-laughing. I know she was right there beside me the whole
time, but the first thing I said when I could see her with my own eyes again was, “I missed
you.” And then she started crying and hugging me. Man, you girls are weird. Alright challenge fans, got another great
idea for a challenge? Why not drop us a note in the comments or
our website? For now though, why not check out that one
time we gave your favorite lab rat lice?! Or maybe you'd rather check this other great
video out? Either way, click one now and keep the watch
party going!
