Identity Crisis

 

noun: identity crisis; plural noun: identity crises

"a period of uncertainty and confusion in which a person's sense of identity becomes insecure, typically due to a change in their expected aims or role in society"

 

I logged into my bank to pay some bills. I do this from my computer, which allows me three alternative ways to log in. Normally I use a special bank card that I put into a card-reading thingy that I connect to my laptop by a cord. I also have a smaller cordless bank thingy that I'm not sure how it works, but somehow codes get sent back and forth by pushing the right buttons, and if I do it right, that works too. (I haven't been using the little fiddly thingy much lately though, as I find the card-thingy easier to handle.)The third alternative is Mobile Bank ID, which involves an app on my smartphone, and scanning of QR codes. The Mobile Bank ID is nowadays also used to access an increasing amount of other apps and websites where one needs to prove that one is who one claims to be. (I'm still a bit sceptical of the general idea of using my phone for Absolutely Everything, though, so have so far avoided using bank apps on the phone.)

 

Anyway. A week or so ago I received a message from my bank "reminding" me (I had no idea!!) that my current Mobile Bank ID will expire in a few weeks. However, the message also said I could renew it by logging into my bank. They made that sound easy, so I thought I'd just do that today in connection with paying my bills... 

 

Of course I should know by now that there's no "just" about these kinds of things - but sometimes I still let optimism take over...

 

It did seem simple enough to start with - until I was suddenly asked to now prove my identity by taking a photo (via an app) of a valid physical ID. And then learned that in this particular context, my driving licence, which in the Real World has served me as allround ID for around 50 years by now (renewed without much ado every 10 years), no longer counts as valid ID in this particular context. To prove my identity to the new Mobile Bank ID, I now need either a physical Passport or a physical National ID card (valid within the EU). And as I haven't travelled abroad for a very long time, and for all other purposes so far have got along fine with my driving license, I don't have either of those... 

 

So I had no alternative but to interrupt my application for the new Bank ID by clicking on the alternative "I don't have the right ID" ... 

 

For a while I feared that this might leave me without any identity at all within in digital world... But luckily it seems that the system reverted to letting the old bank ID tick on until the automatic expiration date. (Phew.)

 

So I hurried on in search of What To Do and Where To Go; and managed to book an appointment at our police station next week - to be photographed and fingerprinted and whatever else it takes to get the required National ID... 

 

To my relief, it seems that the physical police will still accept my driving license to prove that I Am Who I Am. (Because if not, it seems the only alternative would be to ask my brother to drive down here to confirm it in person. And I'm not actually sure if he has any ID besides his driving license to prove his identity either...)

 

The whole circus now makes me think I should probably also make sure to both renew my driving license next year (in spite of doubting that I'll ever actually take up driving again), and get a passport as well (even if I have no travel plans). On second thought, probably better to wait a year or two with the passport, though - or else the ID card and the passport will keep expiring at the same time...

 

I'm not going to ask everyone to describe your own country's ID systems in detail - but I do feel curious to know if you too are feeling the increased pressure/requirement to use your phone for Everything... As much as I love my smartphone, for the most part I still mostly use it as a combination of camera, audio book player, handy encyclopedia, and to receive text message notifications. For other online things, I usually prefer either my laptop or my tablet... But these days, it seems the goal is a separate App for "every purpose under heaven" * (but one Bank ID to join them all)...

 

* "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." 
(Ecclesiastes 3:1)