Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

‘Number neighbors’ is the internet’s latest obsession

Published Aug 9th, 2019 11:28AM EDT
Number Neighbors
Image: JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

If you’ve heard of number neighbors recently, you’re not the only one, as the whole thing went viral on social media this past week. But as you’ll see in some examples, not everyone understands what number neighbors are, and can take the whole thing the wrong way. Number neighbor refers to the phone numbers that are one digit away from yours, and people are texting their neighbors so they can post screenshots of the conversations online.

As cool as it might sound at first, the whole thing is also very annoying and might lead to all sorts of unwanted consequences. Texting strangers, after all, might not be the best thing to do. As you’ll see in the screenshot below, some people haven’t been reacting all that well, especially if they’re not aware of the number neighbor meme.

But other attempts have led to some pretty amazing interactions, like this number neighbor who pretended to be an automated answering service for a hotel:

In the best-case scenario, you might end up with a good girl who has no idea what a number neighbor is, but instantly becomes your new best friend.

A couple lucky ones might even discover that their neighbor is America’s Ass, if you catch my drift. Even thought the whole thing is fake, someone might actually discover Captain America this way.

That is, if you can find your neighbor:

If all else fails, however, you can just up your game and go for the entire number neighborhood, which includes all ten digits. Some will like it, many will hate it, and the results will look something like this:

You can check out this Twitter search for more number neighbor stories, while this one will show you all sorts of neighborhood stories.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.