Ever get a sinking sensation when you call a bank to activate a new credit card, and the issuer's Caller ID system automatically activates the card simply because you called from your home telephone? That sensation is a demographic flashback.
How to deal with these episodes? One friend steps outside herself: Upon hearing her last name butchered the way only telemarketers can, her reply is "She's not here, but if you'd like to leave a message I'll make sure she gets it." With this, she's much like her trance-actions as they bounce around the globe: fractured and dispersed.
Grounds for an identity crisis? Maybe. But just listen to a financial industry ad: Against a backdrop of the song "Stand by Me," a woman praises her Citibank photo-ID credit card, confidently declaring, "Citibank has really given us a new sense of self."
-The Hyperformr (hyperformr@aol.com) skates through digital culture in various forms and multiple personas.
