I’ve been thinking about how we express our understanding of information and technology in our offline lives and found myself walking behind someone last week who had this barcode tattooed on the back of his neck. I was struck by the tattoo not only being in such a visible place but being highlighted by a piercing as well, so stopped him to ask if I could take a picture of it.
He graciously agreed (and yes, he gave me permission to post it), and told me that he got it for “when I get old and get Alzheimer’s and can’t remember my age. It’s my day, month and year of birth.”
I asked him if his family had a history of Alzheimer’s and they don’t, so I found it an especially interesting way of framing the reason.
I have more to say about this but want to mull it over a bit first; meanwhile I wanted to at least post the picture. What do you think this says…about him, our culture or how we express ourselves?
Sara Cambridge 