This is what happens to techies when they lose the cell phone. Life is shattered and in disarray because every little thing is stored on the sim card. Some of these people cannot even remember their own land line numbers and they do not have too because it is on the sim card in their cell phone.

Life has changed dramatically for many, especially those who were born in the era of the cell. The cell refers to the “cell phone” of course. It is almost a life form in its own right. It has all of our contacts on it, pictures of our mates, kids, pets, cars as well as birth dates and other important dates. We feel secure knowing that we have our life under control and it is all wrapped up this little box – the cell. We are reliant on our artificial memory for many little things that make our day to day lives easier.

We no longer have to rely on our own memory to store information; we have extended that out to “the cell”. Our lives have gotten so busy that we are constantly thinking and planning what we are doing next that we have no room in our working memory to remember things like phone numbers or birthdays. Does that mean we are more thinking or less thinking?

Part of reality is dealing with the wider world and this is where artificial memory is useful. This is where “the cell” and other artificial memories can be utilized. We ought to be using the cell for these interactions and still memorizing our loved ones birthdays and anniversaries. There is a need to establish a protocol for acceptable behaviors when dealing with these new technologies. As always there are people who sort this out as the need arises.

There has been a new survey that has discovered a new generation has been created, one that cannot memorize simple things because of the new devices that have been created. Two thirds of the people surveyed could not recall more than three birthdays of their friends or family. The other startling information was that a third of those polled could not remember their own land line number.