1. How many numbers?
I can remember 4 numbers: both parents, own mobile, school friend's parents house from when I was 14

2. Backed up?
Outlook

3. How many lost?
I'd lose 3 numbers, recent additions

4. Who u gonna call?
Parent, if only because I can't remember the phone number of my significant other. This happened to me due to a bust credit card on trip to Helsinki

5. How sure are you?
I get it right about 50% of the time. If I'm dialling from memory I often get the first 3 numbers mixed up with the last 3. (apologies to the bloke in Brighton who I keep calling, but you really should be out of bed at that time in the afternoon)

6. Major number's not remembered?
Significant other. Land line at home. Office

1. Without looking at your phone address book how many phone numbers can you remember from memory?

Zero. When we had a land line, frequently called numbers were on a bulletin board next to the phone. Now that we're on cell phones, there is no bulletin board. (Or you could say, the bulletin board is in the phone.)

2. Do you have a paper/digital backup of phone numbers somewhere?

Yes. I have a paper address book and also address book on my iMac. Important numbers that I call frequently are also in my journal in my purse.

3. Assuming your backup is out of sync... How many contacts would you lose if you lost your phone?

One. My husband just got a new cell phone and I haven't written his number down anywhere. But I'd just call his office land line.

4. You are in a foreign city with no money, who would you call in this emergency situation?

The only foreign country I've been to lately is England. I'd call my mother-in-law because she lives there.

5. How sure are you that the 'emergency' phone number is accurate?

100%.

6. Any significant phone numbers you can't remember?

All of them. I always look them up. Why waste brain cells?

1 - I remember my own and my parents, which is the same one I grew up with. Actually I often find it faster to call them via dialing the numbers then looking them up in the phone...

2 - I have a digital backup, palm format as it is a treo. There are a handful of backups of the backup too, put all are rather out of date.

3 - I'm maybe half a dozen numbers out of sync, be more concerned about my calendar data then the numbers, or at least I think I would.

4/5 - parents in an emergency, or ask for the embassy or emergency services depending on the emergency, not a very clear question here... but yeah I know my parents number by heart.

6 - parents number is the only significant one I _do_ remember...

1. Without looking at your phone address book how many phone numbers can you remember from memory?
Own mobile, work, home, mother's home, partner's work

2. Do you have a paper/digital backup of phone numbers somewhere?
Outlook and Pocket PC

3. Assuming your backup is out of sync... How many contacts would you lose if you lost your phone?
My ex-wife's (not a significant loss)

4. You are in a foreign city with no money, who would you call in this emergency situation?
My bank then my wife then my traveler's insurance and last resort the consulate

5. How sure are you that the 'emergency' phone number is accurate?
100%

6. Any significant phone numbers you can't remember?
My sisters'

i've never had a mobile phone - insert gasp here - but i can remember 32 phone numbers right now, 5 of which i actually dial on a regular basis. most of the rest are remembered from the first 16 years of my life. i guess this data falls well under the OT heading, doesn't it? but keep me in mind if you ever want to research how the other diminishing "half" gets by. Since I've never had one, it's hard for me to get a very clear picture of how i'm managing without, but from what i gather from people that use them a lot - i already need one pretty badly. i'd even "use it all the time if i had one". i can't wait.

1. About 6 (parents, my mobile, home, home-fax, company, directory information

2. Yes, digital backup.

3. Just one or two

4. Dont't know ... The german embassy?

5. I'm not sure at all.

6. No.

1. #s remembered

Probably zero, maybe one useful #. I also remember numbers from my childhood that would do me no good.

2. Backups

I travel with paper and digital backups usually. If I lose all of those, I have relevant #s (and other useful info) stashed away on a secret URL or two. I'm a firm believer in offsite backup.

3. How many lost

About 5, nothing critical.

4. Emergency

If I'm in a foreign city with no money, then I have greater worries than my mobile phone, because that would mean that not only was my hotel room robbed, but I was also mugged. The police would likely be my first call. But I would probably call my mother.

5. Accuracy

Maybe 50% recall on the land line. No worries, that's what directory assistance is for.

6. Really can't remember any of them...thus the many forms of backup I keep.

What you have written here maps to field data I've been working on - trying to understand what people do in an emergency (yup - must write that research paper). The mobile phone is, by and large, considered essential tool to take with you when you leave home. And the UI (rightly) protects the user from information overload e.g. showing Caller ID instead of just the phone numbers. People don't need to learn new phone numbers, just programme them into memory and leave it at that. But it then leaves us vunerable when the phone is lost or misplaced.

Juergen wrote:

> I also remember numbers from my childhood that would do me no good.

Everything has value? I think these numbers could well be used as part of a password, for example to retrieve contact information from an online service.

1. around 3
2. no (or maybe from five years back)
3. around 5
4. parents, friends, embassy
5. no idea
6. depends on "significant" (i guess a lot)

Actually, I have used a childhood ph# as a password, once. From a hardcore security perspective, it's insecure because it's part of public record. However, I don't really consider my contact list to be classified, or highly desirable.

When I think back to the landline days I recall occasionally forgetting important numbers that I frequently called--they just suddenly weren't accessible in my head, and I'd have to look them up one way or another (surely it's not just me?). We tend to expect our machines to be infallible, but of course they're not. And neither are the systems they are embedded in. We write down information that we might forget, but we often don't write down information our machines might 'forget'.

What did people do twenty years ago in the same emergency situations? (How) does it change with mobile phones added to the equation? (How many people used to travel without critical #s copied in their purse or wallet...and how many people with mobile phones do the same thing today?)

1. my brother, best friend from high school, best friend from univ., boyfriend from high school, my home number, my mom's best friends home number..so it's 6

2. nope

3. 8, some elderly relatives who don't use e-mail

4. my dad

5. i dont remember his cell no. but i can always call home and get to him from there

6. my dad's:) he just changed it and he has 2 at the moment, i never try to memorise them.
my boyfriend's. i never learned it, and once i didnt have my phone w me and i had to call him, i went through my inbox, sent items, etc. and couldn't find a trace of his number. then i looked at the icq histories as well, no chance. i ended up not being able to reach him that day...

1. Three: home, office, parent's home

2. Yes, via iSync.

3. None, they are always in sync.

4. Collect call to the office.

5. Very sure.

6. My wife's mobile.

1. None (excepting 119).

2. Yes. Phone backup on floppy, and lots of e-mail messages in archives.

3. Depends on how long since the last backup. 0-20.

4. One of the numbers from the list of emergency numbers I keep on paper in my wallet when I travel.

5. Very sure.

6. All of them (again, excepting 119).