Poll: Me and my cousin are curious do people under 27 know their social security number offhand?

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

I've had mine memorized since I was around 13 years old. I needed it to tie state tests to my name, I think.

 

[Yopaz]

Yes, I know mine by heart. I also know my bank account number and my credit card number. I just got a mind for numbers I guess. I rarely need to know my bank account number, but it's in there with all the other things.

 

[Zeren]

I know the last four digits. That's all I need to remember to get money out of my bank.

 

[frizzlebyte]

Of course... I've heard it's a pretty new thing in USA, but not in Sweden.
Here we use it all the time.

Social Security (old-age pension) has been around in the US since 1935. I wouldn't call that new, but that's a relative term, I guess.

It was not supposed to be a national ID number, but it quickly became one since everyone gets a unique number assigned for them at birth.

 

[C F]

I've had mine memorized since age fourteen (or maybe it was 15). I'm eighteen now, so yeah.

 

[Ekit]

I don't know what a social security number is. But I'm guessing it's an American thing.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

How would stealing your identity give someone the power to destroy the world? What mad power do you wield, talking bear?!

Let's just say I skipped a few steps between stolen identity and world destruction. I don't want to give away my plans just yet. You'll all find out soon enough anyway.

 

[CheckD3]

###-##-####

I know those are just number signs, but if the internet were safer, I'd prove that I know my SS. Use it a lot to confirm my identity, or fill out paperwork. Easier and safer to memorize it than it is to write it in my phone, or carry my SS card around

 

[TheAmokz]

Of course i do. It's my birthday, 3 numbers and one letter, how i could NOT remember that?

I don't know what a social security number is. But I'm guessing it's an American thing.

Social security number is pretty much global thing, in Sweden its called personnummer.

 

[Nexxis]

I had to know mine since high school since I was required to use it on a lot of documents and applications for college prep stuff and summer programs. My middle school just encouraged us to memorize it and carry it on our person (which people are told not to do, these days).

 

[doctorjackal777]

Not the whole thing but I love how 666 shows up in it. Mum says it's proof that I really am a child of the devil. XD

 

[Braedan]

Well I'm not a yank, but we have similar systems in the Frozen North with social insurance numbers. And no, I can't remember that many numbers in a row when I use it maybe once a year.
But I do have it readily available, though there's not a whole lot you could do with it if you needed it.

 

[Shuguard]

Offhand no, but it's on my draft card which is in my wallet. I always have my wallet on me.

 

[Yomomma20]

I'm 21 in the US and I can't imagine not knowing mine by heart. It seems like anytime I do anything big, I need to know it. College, work, moving in somewhere, doctors, voting...I've needed to know it many times.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Well yeah. For most college students, your SS is what went on all your paperwork and was essentially what you type into systems to make them work.

Yeah, pretty much this. A better question would be whether people under the age of 18 know their SS number. Because by the time you hit 20, assuming you've done at least some college, you've used your social security number for quite a few forms. Potentially even used it as a username or password for certain University computer systems, although thankfully laws have gone in in recent years forcing universities to use something other than the social security number for that stuff. When you think about it, it's really sad that a law had to go in for a practice that stupid to end. Makes it way too easy to accidentally type it in the wrong box and broadcast it to the world.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Of course i do. It's my birthday, 3 numbers and one letter, how i could NOT remember that?

I don't know what a social security number is. But I'm guessing it's an American thing.

Social security number is pretty much global thing, in Sweden its called personnummer.

That's a lot better than it is in the US. Over here it's a string of eight numbers that aren't obviously correlated to anything. Apparently the first few digits are some sort of code involving where you were born, but what numbers correlate to what place isn't exactly common knowledge.

Edit: Well, where you were living when your number was issued, anyway. That's usually the same as where you were born, but if you're, say, an immigrant who gained citizenship, it's not going to work out that way.

 

[antidonkey]

Well, I'm over your age criteria so I'll refrain from voting. However, when I was under the age of 27, I did indeed know my SSN by memory. It got ingrained to my memory thanks to many, many job applications as a teenager.