First Year Frantically Struggles to Acquire Phone Numbers
By Erin Horning
Aug. 7, 2015
First-year Mona Everett thought she was set for college when her parents dropped her and all of her brand-new college gear off on the steps of Max Palevsky Residence Hall. “I put a lot of thought into shopping, because I felt it was important to make a good first impression,” she told reporters. “I chose the zebra-print bedspread and the hot pink flamingo lamp because I felt that a bold aesthetic would build up my confidence during the transition to college life.”
However, Mona found that all of the care she took in preparation was not sufficient to meet the realities of the O-Week social whirlwind. “It seems like no matter how engaging I am, it’s difficult to keep up,” she lamented. “Everyone seems to be forming these incredibly natural friendships with people that they’ve never met before. Even though it is really hard to find common ground with people in such a short time, I feel like if I don’t form these connections now, I never will. I really only have this week,” she emphasized.
Much of her frustration stemmed from the difficulty of acquiring phone numbers. “It seems like everywhere — in the dining halls, in the lounges, between Chicago Life Meetings — everyone is getting into these conversations that lead naturally into an exchange of phone numbers, but it’s really hard to do this without forcing it.”
According to Mona, the best way to acquire numbers is to create some kind of logistical dilemma, and then frame an exchange of numbers as the solution. “Hey, you want to join me for such and such some time? What’s your number?’” Mona said, offering an example of this process.
Mona said that she felt that if she didn’t manage to get the number of everyone in Max West by the end of O-Week, then she would feel “weird” about asking later because everyone else would have already gotten everyone else’s phone number. Additionally, she said she would look “lame” if she asked at that point. As a result, she is determined to amass
“Having a lot of phone numbers is key to forming relationships,” she said. “At this stage, it’s really about volume. You’ve got to make sure that you get on those group texts early on or else you’ll never know what’s happening. Once you’ve got enough numbers and you are clearly in with a group, you can even get numbers secondhand, by saying you’ll text so-and-so and then realizing that somehow, you don’t have so-and-so’s number. You then ask your other friend to give you so-and-so’s number to remedy this ‘absurd’ situation.”
According to Mona, the entire process is stressful but exhilarating. Shortly after concluding her interview with reporters, Mona was seen trying to engage a fellow first year in a conversation about Super Smash Bros and to work out a time when they could meet.
