California-to-Texas pay phone sparks conversations across party lines

A rather strange red phone booth appeared outside a San Francisco tattoo parlor this week, urging residents of one of America’s most liberal cities to “call a Republican.”

Its counterpart, a blue phone booth, stands outside a bookstore in the deeply conservative town of Abilene, Texas, where it encourages locals to “call Democrats.”

Together, the phone booths form a social experiment: When someone picks up the line in San Francisco, the phone rings in Texas and vice versa, creating a unique opportunity for passersby to chat with a stranger who has a very different perspective on politics and life.

The initiative, called the Party Line project, Matter NeuroscienceA mental health startup focused on researching the science behind happiness and creating tools to combat major depressive disorders.

Matter co-founder Ben Goldhirsh explained that neuroscientists know that fighting with people who have different views causes cortisol to be released in the brain, which increases stress. On the other hand, non-hateful, human-to-human conversation activates neurotransmitters that increase happiness, such as dopamine and cannabinoids, he said.

“We wanted to see what happens when people have the chance to connect with people directly; will they choose to argue and fight, or will they choose to find common ground?” Goldhirsh said. “[Would they choose] cortisol release or cannabinoid release?

To the researchers’ delight, the vast majority of callers chose to seek common ground. The project began late Sunday afternoon, and by Thursday evening researchers had recorded more than 150 conversations and voicemails.

Goldhirsh said the topics callers have discussed so far have ranged widely, including hobbies, culture and world events. Many callers reject the dichotomy of the Republican and Democrat labels and realize they have similar concerns about the state of the nation and the economy.

In one of the recordings, Steve, a San Franciscan who describes himself as a liberal, asks, “Are you a Republican?” he asks. To a mother of four in Abilene.

He immediately responds, “Yes, I am,” but after a minute he says, “Eh, no, um, umm, [I’m] “As I got older, I would probably say independent.”

Steve then asks her if she sees the world as crazy as he does, and she replies: “I do. It really gets worse every day.”

“See? We have so much in common!” he answers.

This kind of dialogue doesn’t surprise Chris Tausanovitch, a UCLA political science professor who wrote a book on polarization in American politics.

Although people often assume they won’t get along with a member of the opposing political party, the average American has more moderate political views than their elected representatives, he said.

“A lot of the discontent with the other side comes from not liking the public stance of any party that we don’t align with,” he said. “If you’re a Democrat, you associate Republicans with the stances of people like Donald Trump, but it turns out most people aren’t as extreme as the stereotype of their political party would suggest.”

Tackling polarization in politics will require serious effort from both sides, Tausanovitch said, but experiments like phone booths are a great way to get people talking across the aisle.

“It’s a nice feeling to talk to another person and realize that they’re human,” he said, “and you may actually learn that people tend not to be as different as you think in terms of actual politics and beliefs.”

From a mental health professional’s perspective, Goldhirsh said he wasn’t surprised that the majority of conversations were positive, questioning, and often led to heartwarming discoveries of shared interests and experiences.

“Humans are complex, nuanced individuals who really enjoy interacting in this way, and when given the chance they do so with genuine kindness and curiosity,” Goldhirsh said.

in one dialogue In a photo shared on Matter Neuroscience’s Instagram account, Shane, a corrections officer in Texas, chats with Chris, who works at a sandwich shop and DJ studio in San Francisco.

Shane describes the good and bad of his job, shares the horror of watching a prisoner be murdered, and the fulfillment he recently found chatting with inmates about the Bible.

The two quickly find some common ground: Shane’s brother’s name is Chris, and Chris’s mother lives in San Antonio.

“I love this experiment here,” Shane says at the end of the conversation. “We’re already connected, man,” Chris adds.

The San Francisco phone booth was set up outside the Black Serum Tattoo studio in the Mission District. Company owner Brucius von Xylander said he agreed to let Matter Neuroscience install the phone outside his studio because he thought it would be a great tool for people across the political spectrum to engage in civil debate.

“It seemed like a good idea to me because it’s fun to connect with a stranger somewhere knowing that they can talk about something that’s hard to talk about on social media or other places,” von Xylander said.

Von Xylander said the response to the call has been overwhelmingly positive, both online and in person.

Meanwhile, about 1,600 miles away in Abilene, Arlene Kasselman, owner of Seven and One Books, was also pleased with the response to the phone call outside her store.

When he first saw the bright blue phone with the words “Call Democrat” written on it, he was a little nervous about how the conversations would go. But so far, people say they’ve been great discussing cooking, basketball, politics and more.

The goal, from his perspective, is to see what it’s like to “see people as people, not just be a keyboard warrior in the comments section.”

“We are certainly biologically more similar than different,” he added. “So how do we get to the other side of the corridor?”

In our increasingly polarized society, Kasselman said he is excited to facilitate an experience where people can have positive interactions with strangers from different backgrounds.

Tausanovitch believes meaningful conversations across party lines, where people connect over common interests, can make voters aware of the price they are paying due to our extreme political climate. When parties focus on winning the election rather than working together on policies that benefit all Americans, everyone suffers, he said.

“Things like this can help people see that [polarization] “It’s a race to the bottom and a problem worth tackling head on,” he said.

Goldhirsh, too, said he was pleased with the initial response and that Matter Neuroscience has been inundated with requests to bring the phone booths to other parts of America. For example, Los Angeles rapper The Game posted a message stating that the team should place phones in Bloods and Crips areas that would allow members of enemy gangs to chat.

“We’re going to continue to push for dialogue,” Goldhirsh said, “because connecting on common ground is better for happiness than, you know, finding joy in the cortisol of the fight-or-flight experience.”