I'm right now on a weekend break from my army reservist training which is two work weeks long. The Singapore army doesn't let me bring a mobile phone with a camera into the training camp so I have to live with a 3G-less, camera-less, java app-less Samsung SGH-C160.

Days before having to pack my bags for my in-camp training, I tried to get my contacts over to this temporary phone when I realised the "Copy contacts to SIM card" function didn't work as planned. Technical details and frustrations aside, this having to input numbers manually made me realise how dependent I was on my mobile phone for numbers.

Believe it it or not I have no recollection or memory of any phone number except my own and Singapore emergency numbers.

I've become a cyborg with my capacity for number memory almost completely dependent on my mobile device! I'm not kidding, I can't call my mum, the office, or any friend without thumbing through my phone. Without my phone, I won't even know how to order pizza or call a cab.

This is actually puzzling as I actually memorise many URLs and email addresses, but not phone numbers. Maybe it's because I carry my mobile phone so close to me all day long that I've taken to depending on it to such a great extent.

I also believe that when a service starts acting like a repository, we tend to depend on it more than we do our own brains. I see this phenomenon happening with del.icio.us as well. Sometimes I don't remember what I bookmarked. I have a browser shortcut that bookmarks the page I want on a click and that's that.

I don't know if I should be scared or happy about this situation. Already without pervasive wireless access and ubiquitous computing I'm so dependent on digital services, what happens when everything is just an instant click away?