The other day I broke down and bought a Nintendo DS. I couldn't pass up the allure of the various mind puzzle games they had for this system, as that is one of my weaknesses. Having had it for a couple days now, I realized that it was filling time that used to be filled with my own thoughts. Time spent just before dinner is ready, or as a passenger in a vehicle, etc…Instead of utilizing down time contemplating various subjects of interest or coming up with fun ways to think of things around me, I now find myself playing Brain Age or some other game. That made me start to think (or, kept me from thinking about until recently) how much of our intelligence and creativity is being lost as a result of portable media.
I remember road trips as a child being a much more fun experience for me than my parents. We would play games like road sign bingo, out-of-state plates, and what does that cloud look like. Whereas these games were merely designed as a means to get me to shut up and stop asking dumb questions, it really did a lot more. It mandated the use of thought and creativity. I had to remember what road signs I needed, or what states I had already seen license plates from. I had to create in my mind that the cloud that looked so similar to every other cloud actually did look like Mickey Mouse. Today, life has become easier for the parent, as many vehicles are coming equipped with DVD players in the back seat, in which the same company that brought you the Mickey Mouse you saw in the cloud, is now bring your kids all the entertainment they want, without them having to even think to get it.
This change isn't only present in the way we raise our kids, but in the way we raise ourselves as well. Games for both the Nintendo DS
as well as the PSP are targeting adults as well as kids. The PSP even has full length movies you can spend your time watching anywhere you want. Devices like the iPOD touch and the Blackberry have absorbed the time of adults everywhere. This time used to be absorbed by just being alone with out thoughts. Whether consciously or not, the brain is constantly processing different things, and making connections out of the stimulus it receives. When that time is spent with pre-formulated stimulus, it no longer has the randomness, which restricts the breadth of what we have experienced, and the connections our brain can make.
Next time you are at an airport or a doctor's office waiting room, compare the amount of people that are reading a book to the number that are using their cell phones to browse the internet or text message. Next time you're on a highway and pass vehicles with kids in the back, compare the number of kids that are looking out the windows at the clouds and license plates to the number looking at PSPs or DVD players. Seeing how much or our society has given into this new portable media craze may make you think about how much time we really dedicate just to our thoughts; or maybe, you'll be too busy reading this blog on your iPhone to think about it at all.
Yesterday, as I do on the 15th of every month, I went to pay certain bills that happen to be due. Apparently when I get paid, other people expect to get paid too. One of these people is CitiCards. I have a credit card through them, and once a month I pay them some money, as that is what I am contractually bound to do. Well, yesterday when I log in, I see a notice in bright red letters that says something to the effect of "your account security may have been compromised; we have restricted online account access, and have issued you a new card. Please call customer service to make any changes to your account." So of course, my first instinct is to panic, as I am thinking all of the 900 number charges must have set off some fraud alert. But, I calm down and decide to call customer service, if for nothing else, just to pay my bill.
So I call the number listed, and am instantly greeted by a "voice recognition response system" that doesn't understand I word I am saying. I never learn with these things though, and I always try to speak hoping this one understands me. I will say something like "Make a payment" and it will reply "Did you say 'Add another authorized user to this account?" It's no wonder my account was able to be compromised with default suggestions like these. So I resort to pushing buttons, which I am equally bad at, as my fingers are larger than the buttons, my credit card number is 16 digits long, and the "close enough" standard doesn't apply. So, I finally get through the introduction (name, card number, why are you calling, who is your daddy and what does he do, etc...) and they are ready to help me. I push the option to pay my bill. It then informs me that they will be charging me a $14.95 fee for using this service. I quickly reply "are you out of your mind?" to which they reply "did you say 'send a cash advance to another cardholder?" So I navigate back to the main menu and press the right secret combination (***000###) to get to a real person.
After enough time on hold that I could have hunted down and killed the person that compromised my account, a person comes on the other end of the line. This gentleman technically speaks English, though I can understand him about as well as the automated system could understand me. So he then proceeds to ask me all the questions that I already answered for the computer, which begs the question where did they send all that information to when I just answered it? So, I answer his questions the best I can, and he asks how he can help me. I explain to him the notice I saw when I logged on, as well as my concern about the 900 numbers, to which he replied "no need to worry sir, this was a whole batch of accounts that was affected, not just yours." Oh, that makes me feel much better. Thanks for putting my mind at ease. Glad to know it wasn't a freak occurrence, but incompetence on the part of the company. At any rate, he allows me to make my payment over the phone without paying the $14.95, and asks me if there will be anything else he can help me with. 
I tell him no, and he says, "and I trust your new card has arrived already." I tell him it has not and he says he would like to verify my address. Amazingly enough they have my old address, which they have now just sent a credit card to. I tell him I have moved and he replies, "Sir, I must stress to you the importance of keeping your address up to date." Excuse me? Allow me to stress to you the importance of not allowing my personal information and card number to get compromised. It's probably a good thing I didn't tell you I moved, otherwise you probably would have let that information be compromised too. So he was nice enough to update my address for me, and cancel the card that was no doubt already in the hands of the person who moved into my previous place.
From what they say, I should see my new card in 5-10 business days. I can't wait to see whose card they send me, as I am sure it is just going to be a random person from the compromised batch. Maybe a person that used to live here, but has since moved, and never had the importance of updating their address stressed to them. If anyone out there receives my card by mistake, I would appreciate it if you would forward it to me. My address and personal information is probably for sale somewhere by now, so it shouldn't be hard to find me.
-Ryan