Being picky about the childhood phone number: does anyone even remember that? Since I have the iPhone I can only memorise something like three or four phone numbers.
I wonder if there's an age difference thing here. I'm unusual for my early twenties (AFAICT) in that I have several numbers in my head (including most of my college phone numbers, original home phone number, etc). Most of my friends are helpless without their cell.
Interesting: at 65, I only remember my childhood phone #, my current cell # (which I had for a couple years before I memorized it), and a previous landline which I use at the grocery instead of their club card.
No I really don't think it's an age thing; I think it's more likely a thing you're born with. I have no idea what my phone number is, have serious difficulties remembering even my postal code or house number. In the meantime, my girlfriend (who's my age) easily remembers the IP addresses of my servers.
Well, maybe that point just got me all excited because I had to work on exactly that dilemma of bad security questions a few years ago for a big identity management installation and we would end up with exactly those kind of a bit more personal/specific questions like who was your first manager, lyrics to favorite song, most significant politician...
In my case, being European and only moved from my parents' house once in my life so far - yes, I do remember my (old) home phone number better than the one my mom switched to now.
Either way, it is a surprisingly difficult topic and very dependent on the organization and people.
I really love that type of research and I guess I got myself all excited as well and forgot to say that one of the numbers I do remember is the childhood phone number but only because it still is the same!
