Twitter Users Are Texting Their ‘Number Neighbors’ to Mixed Results

Even those eternal optimists in Gen Z will probably admit that the internet has soured. The initial promise of an endless expanse where people could come together in the spirit of far-flung fraternity, finding like-minded people on a quest to dig through all of the world’s knowledge proved to be a ruse. The initial burst of ramshackle online operations has thinned to a crowd of about three megacorporations and then calcified, and we’ve largely accepted it.

But every once in a while, something comes along to remind you of that younger, kinder internet. Twitter’s “number neighbor” is one such fad. 

The premise is simple. A bunch of glass half full types (who apparently didn’t live through the unwanted genitalia gauntlet of ChatRoulette) are changing the last digit of their phone number by 1 and texting it to say what’s up. Then they share the results. Silly and lame though it may be, it’s just because goofiness seems beamed in from the old web, even if it found a home on one of the few remaining platforms. Take a look at some of our favorites below.