- Imagine being MrBeast's number neighbor.
- I'm gonna say, "Hi."
Is that what it is, number neighbor?
♪ (industrial intro) ♪
- "Hey phone num--" I know what this is.
Your phone neighbor.
- "Hey, phone number neighbor." "Oh hey!
What an honor to finally meet." "How are you today?"
"Just peachy. How about you, my friend?"
- "I'm great. I saw so many people texting
their phone number neighbors on Twitter, so I decided
to give it a shot, too." "I was literally going to say
this is the most Twitter [bleep] I've ever experienced, lol."
- "I'm glad you were friendly about it.
Some people are really mean."
- "What kind of neighbor of neighbor would I be
if I were mean? Life is too short to be mean
to your neighbor." Aw, that's a great one.
- Aw, that's so sweet. I have no idea
what just happened. I recently saw hashtag
#numberneighbor on my Twitter feed,
but I didn't really think anything of it.
- I have seen this going around, I think just in the past week.
- This has only been going on for a week,
but I'm already a little bit annoyed by it,
'cause I've been literally seeing it everywhere.
- My phone neighbor still has not texted me.
I'm so upset, to be honest. - (FBE) So you've tried it already.
- No. I'm waiting for them
to text me first, 'cause I'm needy.
- "My number neighbor is dumb."
- "You're my number neighbor." "Who this?"
"Your number neighbor. Our numbers are one number apart."
- "Who is this?" "Lmao, my number is this
and yours is this."
- "How did you get my number?"
"I have very little patience for stupidity."
Any kind of Kevin from the Office is perfect.
- Moe needs to relax. He's being the intrusive [bleep]
about it.
- That'd be my mom, you know what I mean?
My mom would probably be like, "I have to go change
my phone number. Somebody got it."
- It's funny. This has been a thing
a lot longer than this. I heard about this years ago.
- This is so weird. I feel like you're gonna
ask me to do it, aren't you? I know you're gonna ask me.
I kinda wanna do it because I'm adventurous
and I'm like, "I wanna know
who this person is."
- (FBE) So, we have more to show you in a second,
but this is a new trend called number neighbor
or text-door neighbor. - Text-door neighbor, that's good.
- (FBE) The trend has mainly taken off on Twitter
and has also attracted some mainstream media attention,
so we have a news report to show you first
and then more from the trend. - Whenever the news gets
ahold of it, they butcher it. "We got a new trend here
called number neighbor. We're gonna try it.
Cathleen, have you heard from your number neighbor?"
- (anchor) It's the latest social media craze.
To take part, people are supposed to text the number--"
- Looks like an iPhone 4.
- (anchor) Digit off from their own phone number.
- That person was like, "No, that's not the right message."
- (anchor) They've actually had some friendly and surprisingly
nice conversations. - Yeah, from an ax murderer.
- (anchor) Strangers they've reached out to have been
a little rude, but whatever the reaction,
- I've seen some of the rude ones. Pretty funny.
- Well, 'cause you're a stranger texting another stranger.
People are gonna be alarmed.
- (anchor) I'm glad you told me, 'cause had someone texted me,
I'd be like, "What are you, crazy?"
- (anchor 2) Get out of here. What do you want from me?
- See, why is everyone so defensive immediately?
You get a text from a random number
that says, "Hey, we're number neighbors."
You're like, "What the [bleep] you want?"
- This just takes me back to Tide Pod stuff
or any big meme that has gone viral,
where the media tries to understand why
we're doing this, but there's not really
an explanation. It was just one person
that had an idea and then everyone else
was like, "Sure, let's try it out."
- Oh, MrBeast. I think I saw this, actually.
- Oh, I saw this on Twitter, dude. I was like, what?
- "My number neighbor doesn't like me."
Sad face. "Hey number neighbor.
Do you want $10,000?" and he's legit from it.
- "Unsubscribe now." Question--
"Take me off the phone list now." I can see that response happening.
"This wasn't a phone list. I was being serious,
but okay, bye."
- Imagine being MrBeast's number neighbor
because what else is he gonna do besides give you money?
- Oh, I've seen this one. I think I saw--
this is the one I saw. "My number neighbor and I
ended racism."
- "What it do, number neighbor?" "Who dis?"
"Your number neighbor."
- "Ah, [bleep], what's good? Male or female?"
"What's up, I'm a guy." "Same, bro."
- "How old is you?" "19, and you?"
"Same, but my birthday is in five days."
"Bro, mines in a few days, too."
"You lying." "Deadass.
Area 51 cloned us." That's a good tie-in
to everything else that's popular right now, too.
- "I know, I can't wait 'till we storm them."
This is incredible.
- "You joined?" "Counting down the days.
I think we just became best friends."
"Nah man, we family."
- "What's your name, bro?" "Shawn, what about you?"
"Mike."
- "[Bleep] segregation. I [bleep] with you, Mike."
Yeah, dude. "[Bleep] yeah, bro.
Twitter got us coming together, all love."
That's what I'm talking about.
- It's not a big deal. It's light, it's fun,
but I'm not from that generation, so it's not really for me.
- This is why it's on the news and in Huffington Post
because it's good fun. You get a lot.
You get these that are just fun.
- This one says, "Dang, some of y'all really can't
have fun."
- "Hey number neighbor." "Huh?"
"It's a Twitter trend. Basically, we have the same number,
just the last digit is off by one."
- "Stupid teens always up to something.
How about get a job and stop texting me.
Stupid mother-effers. Our future is effed
with y'alls bull [bleep]. F you.
F off." Get off my lawn.
- Yeah, number neighbor's why we're [bleep],
not your response.
- Someone's a salty baby boomer and I don't support this.
- He's ready to just yell at them [bleep] teens.
Relax, Mr. gray. Relax.
- "Best decision I ever made was texting my number neighbor.
You could make a new friend."
- "Hey, you're my number neighbor.
You wanna be friends?" "My number neighbor?
But yes, of course I wanna be friends."
- "You wanna meet up or something?"
That's the crazy part. No, no.
- That's scary. Don't do that.
- "I'm sorry, I can't. I'm moving soon.
I know this may sound kinda random,
but I can't take my dog with me. Do you know anyone
who's looking for a dog?"
- "Bro, swear? I've been wanting a dog for a while.
Can you meet today at the address like 7:30?"
- "No way, yes. I'll meet you there.
This is badass."
- Dog, it's a Labrador. It's beautiful.
"This is Sadie. She's very sweet
and very friendly with other dogs and cats.
You two should get along just fine."
- "She's so cute. I can't wait to give her
a great home." Oh my God.
- Oh my God, that's so fun. That was meant to be.
- That person got a [bleep] dog from their number neighbor?
Man, this is the kind of positivity that we need right now.
- "So I texted my number neighbor and this is how it went.
Your number neighbor." "Who's this?"
"I'm your phone number neighbor, bro."
- "Real recognizes real and you looking like a stranger."
That's also one of my favorites right now.
- "Strangest thing is I'm the realest one around.
You must got things upside down."
Oh and then he got the high contrast thug filter.
I love it.
- I love it. I love when people
out-meme each other.
- I love that they're using the picture.
I love that they're bouncing off of each other.
Again, it's a fun moment.
- "I think my number neighbor tops everyone else.
What's up, number neighbor?" "Excuse me, but who is this?"
"I'm your number neighbor."
- "Well hello, number neighbor, but this is former--"
[Bleep] off. No, it's not.
- "But this is former president Barack Obama
and I would appreciate it if you stopped texting me.
Have a good day." "Lmao, you're not Obama.
Send proof."
- "Here you go. Believe me now?"
"Omg, Obama."
- Imagine though, 'cause you never know
who your number neighbor is.
- That's absolutely fake, but I love it.
- It's one of those trends that are just wholesome.
No one's really getting hurt unless someone's taking it
too far, but it's nice just to introduce yourself.
- I don't know why I think worst case scenario,
but then my brain starts thinking of all the negative
things that could come with it like the meeting up
with someone who's creepy. You don't know who
you're texting on the other end, there.
- (FBE) Now, we might not get a reply immediately,
but now that you've watched all of these and seen
how random and wild some of these replies can be,
do you wanna try and text your number neighbor
right now? Then we'll check back in
at the end of the episode to see if they reply.
- Gosh, if I was younger and just didn't really
give a [bleep], I probably would do it.
I think it would be fun, but I don't know.
I'm gonna take the old curmudgeon route
and just be like, "Get off my lawn" with this.
- Yeah, let's do it.
- Yeah, I'll give it a shot. I just wanna see
what happens. I'm not expecting anything.
- I tried this when I was with my friends.
I texted the number neighbor above me and below me
to see if I'd get any replies
and then they replied back and just said, "Quien es."
So I went, "Oh no. It's gonna get lost in translation.
How do I explain a number neighbor in Spanish
when I myself don't know Spanish." And then I texted
the number below, which I don't mind
double texting right now to see if they reply back.
- What do I say? "Hey, you're my number neighbor."
- I'm gonna say, "Hi." Is that what it is?
Number neighbor? "Hi, number neighbor?"
- "Hope you're having a great day.
From your number neighbor."
- "It's your friendly neighbor number."
- "Just saying hey." Lots of exclamation points.
- "I hope you're having a good summer."
- I'ma text them, "What's up, bb?"
I'm gonna send it. What's up, bb?
- I'm saying, "So you really left me on read?"
Okay, cool. Hopefully they're awake
and they'll wanna text me back.
- "Howdy, neighbor." How's that?
It's already so creepy. Been delivered.
- Okay, I sent it.
- Here it goes. Swoosh, delivered.
- Should I hit them with a selfie real quick?
Yo, what's up, it's your neighbor.
Just wanted to say what's up. Having a--
hope you're having a good day.
I'm kinda nervous. First date.
I'm gonna send it. They're gonna be like,
"What the [bleep] is going on?"
- (FBE) Although the trend recently got popular on Twitter,
people having been texting their number neighbors
as far back as 2008. - Oh, okay.
- (FBE) When the term text-door neighbor
was added to Urban Dictionary. - Oh, text-door neighbor's way better
than number neighbor, I think.
- (FBE) The trend started making the rounds again in 2016
where several publications like the Daily Mail published
articles regarding the trend. Why do you think this trend
seems to come back time after time?
- That's so interesting. So for me, it's interesting
because I didn't know about the previous times,
so I'm probably in that boat of if it happened to me
one of the first times that it started up again,
I'm like, "Oh wow, look at this new trend."
- It's fun to do. You never know who
your number neighbor is. you know what I mean,
and you never really think about it until you're like,
"I wonder who my number neighbor is.
I wonder if they're a cool person."
- Someone younger figures this out and then thinks--
I don't even think they think it's-- they're shedding new light
on something old. They're just like,
"We should do this. It sounds like fun."
- People forget about it and then a new generation comes.
There's been things that my kid has done
and he's like, "Oh my God, I found this cool new thing."
and we're like, "Yeah, we used to do that."
- (FBE) As we saw, some of the reactions
from the replying neighbors were positive going along
with the joke, some could be negative.
Why do you think so many people would feel
so drastically one way while others feel
so drastically the other way? - I think it's a personality thing
more than anything. You're either a go-lucky,
happy person, but then there's people
who are just bitter about everything.
- It's an older generation that doesn't get it
or people who are just, I don't know,
they just don't know how to have fun in their lives.
- If you're a slightly older person that maybe isn't
on Twitter, it's a little bit alarming because
you're getting texts from a stranger that's saying,
"I'm your number neighbor." and you have no clue
what that means and the default is just
to be scared. I think a lot of people
are defensive.
- It could have been just a bad day,
but sometimes you get those floods of calls
from those random numbers all day long
and now it feels like they're invading
your text message-- your inbox.
You're like, no! No, get out.
- (FBE) Growing up, we're told not to talk
to strangers and yet here we are with this trend,
we are literally reaching out to strangers in a very
personal way. Are there any concerns
you think this trend introduces?
- I don't think it could introduce negativity.
I think it's something that's just gonna flutter here
and be a little fun and positive
and next week, it's gonna be something else.
- No, besides the normal "Hey, I'm gonna go meet up
with my text-door neighbor in a dark alley
in his windowless van." There's that danger,
but no, there's no danger, especially now where we can
block numbers.
- Do not meet up with your text-door neighbor,
'cause you don't know who your text-door neighbor is.
You don't know who your neighbor is sometimes.
- If any of my kids were trying to participate
in this, I would-- man, I don't know
what I would do, 'cause-- I would lose my mind.
I'd definitely be like, "What are you doing?
You have no clue who you're talking to."
I'm worried about their safety. Isn't that weird, though?
I don't care about my own safety,
but I'm worried about theirs. I guess that's the role
of a parent, right?
- It's all fun and good, but there is an element,
as with anything in life, where things could go really bad,
so I would say if you're gonna do it, be smart, be safe.
- (FBE) So finally, let's check if your number neighbor
replied back. - Okay.
Damn it. Why do people do this to me.
They leave me on read.
- No, no answer at all.
- Nothing. It's just been delivered.
- Oh. It's not my number neighbor.
It's a different person.
- They didn't. I got a real text
from my real neighbor.
- No. I feel like maybe
at the end of the day, I'll get something back from them
and I'll be like, "Ah, JC."
(applause)
- I got a "You're the react guy?" after I sent the video and "Lol."
Should I ask, "Are you laughing with me or at me?"
Oh, okay, okay. They just said "Lol" again.
Is this a [bleep] joke? "I watch you on Facebook."
How old are you, [bleep] 40?
- All right, oh. I do have--
oh, okay. I did get a response.
They said, "Hahaha, I was finally waiting
for this to happen. Finally, what took so long?"
This is a great response. This is obviously somebody
who knows it's happening and they were looking forward to it.
I'm glad I could help make their day.
"I'm behind in the trend. Didn't mean to keep
you waiting." The conversation could end there,
but I'm also like, what could they say back?
Number neighbor, it was great chatting with you.
Thanks for writing back. Appreciate it.
- Thanks for watching this episode of Adults React.
Shoutout to Amber McCurdy.
- What should we react to next? Let us know in the comments.
- Thanks for watching, bye.
- Hi guys, I'm JC, producer at FBE.
Do you want to decide what topics we should cover next?
Then make sure to join the FBE Superfam.
You help us sustain and grow right here on YouTube.
Head on over to React Channel and click Join for more info.
Bye, guys.