So you change your phone number – great. Only it isn’t, because now you’ve now unleashed a whole cascade of changes. And that cascade could lead to all sorts of problems.
Let’s start with the reason for changing the number itself. Your tariff was bad. OK, so why not change it? After all, you just have to pick up a new number from a different company and hey-presto! – a new number. Only, if you have a bank credit/debit transfer payment with the old company, then you’ll have to cancel the payments or be billed for something you did not use. That’s a banking matter, of course – but you still have to go back to the old phone company and cancel payments. And if you have a few months to go on your old tariff, then you’ll have to finish paying them off too. Does anyone actually remember their phone number these days? Good luck remembering the prior company’s account details – phone number and pin, etc, after a few days with the new one. A visit to the old company will also quickly reveal their business practices when it comes to departing customers.
Phew! So that bit’s over. Except the next cascade is with registration of online services. Want a quick SMS to confirm change of phone number to later change passwords on Google, Facebook, for cinema bookings, travel, and more importantly with ebanking? Well, now you can’t because you’ve just changed that very phone number. They can't send you a message because they don't know your new number! Because many of these online services are linked (a dubious connection if ever there was one), then your old ‘one ring to rule them all’ phone number is now a useless set of digits. One-by-one, all of these accounts have to be brought up to speed with your new phone number because only you can do this: confirm password–enter new number–reconfirm password–confirm change of details with requested SMS–reconnect with newly requested SMS-activated change of details–receive email confirming change of details… it’s such a bloody drag!
And then there’s the fun stuff, like telling everybody listed on your phone that you’ve changed your number. How do you do this? Send everyone an email? Throw it out on Facebook so that every Tom, Dick and Harry can see and possibly use it to access your information elsewhere? What about SMS-ing everyone in turn, or even in a group text? Or how about not telling them; a sifting mechanism to weed out those ‘friends’ you aren’t comfortable that somehow obtained your number in the past?
I have a radical solution to all this – it’s called pen and paper. This ancient technology allowed for creative expressions of connectivity between ordinary folk. It was permanent, unless it was permanently deleted, i.e. burnt, and definitely helped with literacy in terms of spelling, punctuation and grammar. Paper letters were also something to be collected. Important correspondences were tied up with red ribbons and kept in a tin box or knicker draw: when those secrets were discovered years later – oh, what stories they told, what memories they evoked! Will texts and emails be similarly archived? Maybe that’s a job for future technicians, but I can’t imagine they’ll be very interesting reading:
Were r u?
Work
Wat tim u bak 4 din?
Dunno
Din in dog
Corresponding by pen and paper allowed for the grace of time, the thought behind composure, the filtering of urgency and the delight of sending and thrill of receiving. You still had to pay a tariff (perhaps a stamp), but paltry in comparison to mobile phone charges.
So, if you are thinking of changing your number and then to reconnect with folks, with business and with all content in your life, then perhaps you should stop and think: maybe a letter will be better!
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