Now it's stored in the phone, you'll never remember

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Can't remember life before mobile phones? Chances are you'll also struggle to recall your home phone number and family birthdays.

According to a survey released on Friday, the boom in what Britons call simply "mobiles" and other portable devices that store reams of personal information has created a generation incapable of memorizing simple things.

A quarter of those polled said they couldn't remember their landline number, while two-thirds couldn't recall the birthdays of more than three friends or family members.

The tech-savvy young fared worse than older people. The under-30s remembered fewer birthdays and numbers than the over-50s, according to the survey.

Two-thirds said they relied on their phone or electronic organizer to remember key dates.

"People have more to remember these days and they are relying on technology more for their memory," said Ian Robertson, professor of psychology at Trinity College, Dublin.

Researchers polled 3,000 people over the last two weeks in the survey for Puzzler Brain Trainer magazine.