Mike Dean
Until about 10 years ago, slightly more perhaps, people had memories. Then, came Facebook and smart phones and people’s ability to remember things like phone numbers, addresses and important dates, including birthdays, became a thing of the past, assigned to technology and software to do the job for us.
It happened to me too. I stopped remembering phone numbers and friends’ birthdays. Some are, of course indelibly etched on my brain forever – those of my family and close friends before the advent of the technologies that would destroy my memory for good. My mobile phone now acts as my telephone number repository. When I was still a user, Facebook served as my birthday memory. Facebookless, the Google contacts and calendar apps now provide me with the necessary storage needed for such memories. I doubt I will run out of space.
I have, as many of you know, been without a personal Facebook account since November 2017. This year I have had my first birthday without Facebook in 10 years. It is also the year, most people I know forgot my birthday. Instead of the hundred plus birthday wishes I have become accustomed to over the years, I found myself with a dozen or so, perhaps 15 – certainly not 20. At first, I was surprised, but then quickly realised that most people are in the same boat as me – they have no other record of when friends’ birthdays are. They are like I was, completely and utterly dependent on Facebook to tell them when to congratulate their friends on completing another cycle around the Sun.
In any case, I don’t feel bad about it. The 15 or so birthday wishes I did get were wonderful and personal – via Whatsapp, Messenger, in person, or by greeting card (I got two in advance of my birthday). They allowed me to interact personally with the people concerned rather than deliver a glib “thank you” beneath a generic Facebook birthday greeting. For the friends who forgot, I don’t take it personally. To be honest, unless I harvested your data from Facebook, the chances are I forgot yours too. Such is life.
My facebook account is currently only deactivated. I still plan to delete it completely in the near future. I am still collecting your data and if your birthday is there on FB, I will, at some stage transfer it to my record of your contact data and google Calendar will remind me next time. For anyone who wants to record mine for future reference, it remains, as always, July 25th. This year, I was 20,089 days old.
Allora! 
I’ve never had much of a memory. I could remember my own birthday (pretty good, huh?). I could remember my sister’s birthday because it was two days after mine. My parents, wife, and son I could almost remember, but I’ve sometimes needed to check the exact day. For almost anyone else, I need a reminder.
I already had a note of your birthday, but didn’t have any reminder set up. No need: you were on Facebook.
These days, my parents and sister are gone, and my wife is the only person likely to remember my birthday without some kind of reminder.
Hi Jonathan! Remembering your own birthday (after all these years) is pretty good, I agree! 😀
I also have yours stored. There is no chance I would remember it these days without my external sources. I had to check to make sure it was there in your contact details. Hopefully that means I will be prompted to send you birthday greetings next year! 😉