Childhood Memory

[Perry Mowbray]

During discussions on iphigenie's wonderful NANY 2009 Teaser he mentioned that she still remembered his childhood phone number, at which point I realised that I could still remember mine (424470).

It made me wonder how common this is?

I'm not sure if it's dependant on how many decades the gap is (closer is easier), or if the greater the number of decades makes it easier to remember (further away is easier)??

[Perry Mowbray]

I can, and it was many decades ago!

[Lashiec]

So do I, because it's the same as back then

[iphigenie]

I guess it is easier if your parents didn't move

I'm trying to see if I can remember my best friend's phone number - I used that nearly every day (girls!) for 8 years. Can't pull it back yet, but will let it simmer for a few hours. pretty sure hers started with 24.

[Perry Mowbray]

So do I, because it's the same as back then

-Lashiec (December 16, 2008, 06:37 AM)

Hmmm: That's cheating!

I've added another option for you 

[Josh]

I've moved a total of at least 9 times since my childhood so no, i do not remember it.

[f0dder]

Both my mum and my dad have kept their old numbers even though they've moved a couple of times since then - so I remember both numbers

[iphigenie]

since my mother has died, her phone number is my banking pin - i think that is pretty secure

[fenixproductions]

I didn't have a phone back then but I still remember my childhood friend's one

[cranioscopical]

I remember one, from (heaven help me!) 50+ years ago.
Also available to me are the registration-plate numbers from some, but not all, of my early cars.
The trouble with 'memory' is that, while the information is always in there, it's not always accessible.
Retrieval depends a number of factors, one of the least important of which is the perceived need to remember.

[edit:] While it may seem a little morbid, I can recall the name of every dog I ever owned.
I cannot, however, recall the name of every cat who has owned me (I prefer dogs to cats).

[Edvard]

I remember mine because part of it followed the first three multiples of 5 (5-10-15).

I would be a real geek if I remembered a phone number because it followed a Fibonacci sequence. 

[Deozaan]

I do. But I lived in the same house for the first 14 years of my life. 362-0305.

[zridling]

Now you know why everyone wants a share of a kid's mind -- you can burn things there before the age of 8 or 9 and the ghost image remains imprinted on their brains for a lifetime.

[scancode]

2323428898 - YAY!

[cranioscopical]

I would be a real geek if I remembered a phone number because it followed a Fibonacci sequence.

-Edvard (December 16, 2008, 10:22 AM)

Or an artist 

[yksyks]

Mine was quite easy to remember: 5501. Yes, just four digits back in sixties in some smaller cities of Czechoslovakia.

[tomos]

I'm sure I can remember *not* having a phone (must ask my mum) I feel a bit ridiculous somehow when I make statements like that (I'm only 44 for gods sake)

our first number was changed twice (by the telephone company) since we got it around 1970 - once one digit changed then they added an extra two digits so I was able to work it out allright!
[not disclosing it in case I use it as top-secret password :p]

btw, here (where I now am) in rural Germany, there's phone numbers of THREE digits and maybe even less (I might just not have come across them yet) In Ireland I know all numbers have to be the same length - hence adding digits to numbers

[f0dder]

I believe all numbers in Denmark are 8 digits long, except for 112 (our variant of 911... back in the old days, it was 000, I wonder why they changed it to 112). For cellphone text messages, there's some 4-digit numbers for special services, though.

[iphigenie]

our number changed once, they added a 6 in front to make space for more numbers - i suspect original planners didnt expect people would have quite that many phones!

I cannot remember any of the numbers I have had as an adult, although I moved 5 times. I cannot even remember the number I had before I last moved in 2005 (although I probably have it written in an email somewhere), or the number of the house I had in London for a year until this September (although that one I *never* knew)... I think I dont remember those cause I never kept them for longer than 2-3 years and that is not enough to get engraved?

I find it fascinating how memory works - I cannot remember people's names that easily, especially in my second and third language (it is way easier in my 1st language), it takes me forever to remember phone numbers (i think it took me 5 years before I really automatically remembered my mobile/cellphone number - i just didnt have to give it out often enough for it to stick), but I can remember books I read, when i read them, where i got them from, what the story was (but not character names, on average) - same thing for games, films, good meals, holiday trips.

On the other hand say in technology I have learned and used an awful lot of things, but I always need to look up details, they just don't stick. I always say it's to make more room for the big picture - at school too, i could never remember equations by heart, but i could rederive them... I could never learn the kind of list of words they made us learn, but I had perfect spelling and could use all of them...

Strange how memory works

[Shades]

The change to 112?

Less pulses (for those really old "turntable" phones), it is easier to remember....and government officials need to do something to justify their salaries  

It is the same in Holland, there all phone-numbers have 10 digits since a couple of years now and they move with you (if you remain in the same netarea).

My parent phone number is easy, it's the year I was born

[Perry Mowbray]

I believe all numbers in Denmark are 8 digits long, except for 112 (our variant of 911... back in the old days, it was 000, I wonder why they changed it to 112). For cellphone text messages, there's some 4-digit numbers for special services, though.

-f0dder (December 16, 2008, 06:13 PM)

We still use 000 in Australia: the argument against that code was in the "old" days that it was quicker to dial 1's (the 1's being closer to the end point on the dial).

Now with most (if not all) phones being touch, it's probably not an issue.

Though, another issue is that most Australians say, "Triple Oh", which confuses Zeros for Ohs. Recently with World Youth Day it was pointed out that we should say "Triple Zero" as someone who does not know may end up entering "666 666 666"

[Deozaan]

Though, another issue is that most Australians say, "Triple Oh", which confuses Zeros for Ohs. Recently with World Youth Day it was pointed out that we should say "Triple Zero" as someone who does not know may end up entering "666 666 666"

-Perry Mowbray (December 16, 2008, 08:11 PM)

I've noticed that a lot of Americans use "Oh" in place of "Zero" when dealing with phone numbers as well. And that's how I remember my childhood phone number, because at the time when I learned it, I didn't make the distinction. In fact, any phone number that I learned before I noticed and made the distinction, I still say "oh" for "zero."

It's interesting, because my mother and I had cell phones that both started with the numbers 409. But she got hers a few years before I got mine, and I started making the distinction before I got mine, but after she got hers. So I remember her cell phone number as starting as "Four-Oh-Nine" but mine starts with "Four-Zero-Nine."

[f0dder]

How on earth does "Oh" become 6? :-s

We only made the change to 112 relatively few years ago, and I doubt that anybody used turntable phones at that point. Might have been some "international standardization" thingy, dunno. But imho 3x0 is a bit easier to remember than "1+1=2"

[Perry Mowbray]

How on earth does "Oh" become 6? :-s

-f0dder (December 17, 2008, 01:56 AM)

These days by pushing the #6 pad three times: 1 press=M; 2 presses=N; 3 presses=O

We only made the change to 112 relatively few years ago, and I doubt that anybody used turntable phones at that point. Might have been some "international standardization" thingy, dunno. But imho 3x0 is a bit easier to remember than "1+1=2"

-f0dder (December 17, 2008, 01:56 AM)

I have a dim memory that 911 is used as it is less likely to be a random dial 

[f0dder]

Ah yeah, I forgot about

How on earth does "Oh" become 6? :-s

-f0dder (December 17, 2008, 01:56 AM)

(see attachment in previous post)
These days by pushing the #6 pad three times: 1 press=M; 2 presses=N; 3 presses=O

-Perry Mowbray (December 17, 2008, 02:36 AM)

Ah, doh. I've never seen anybody in .dk use that scheme, and the "call 1-666-FAT-CHIX now!" stuff confused me for quite a while when I was younger