A rather peculiar red phone booth appeared outside of a San Francisco tattoo parlor this week urging residents in one of America’s most liberal cities to “call a Republican.”
Its counterpart, a blue phone booth, sits outside a bookshop in the staunchly conservative town of Abilene, Texas, where it encourages locals to “call a Democrat.”
Together the phones booths form a social experiment: When someone picks up the line in San Francisco, it rings in Texas, and vice versa, cultivating a unique opportunity for passersby to chat with a stranger who holds a vastly different outlook on politics and life.
The initiative, dubbed the Party Line project, is the brainchild of Matter Neuroscience, a mental health start-up focused on researching the science behind happiness and creating tools to battle major depressive disorders.
Neuroscientists know that fighting with people who hold different views leads to the release of cortisol in the brain, which increases stress, explained Matter co-founder Ben Goldhirsh. On the other hand, engaging in non-hateful, human-to-human conversation activates happiness-boosting neurotransmitters such as dopamine and cannabinoids, he said.
“We wanted to see what would happen when people had the chance to connect with people directly — would they choose to argue and fight, or would they choose to find common ground?” said Goldhirsh. “[Would they choose] the release of cortisol or the release of cannabinoids?”
Much to researchers’ delight, the vast majority of callers have chosen to seek common ground. The project launched late Sunday afternoon, and more than 60 conversations had taken place by Wednesday afternoon.
So far, the topics callers have discussed have run the gamut, including hobbies, culture and world events, said Goldhirsh. Many callers, he said, are rejecting the dichotomy of Republican and Democratic labels when sharing their personal political views.
“I think people are complex, nuanced individuals,” said Goldhirsh, “and [they] really enjoy engaging as such and do it with a real sort of kindness and curiosity when given that chance.”
In one dialogue shared on Matter Neuroscience’s Instagram, Shane, a correctional officer in Texas, chats with Chris, who works at sandwich shop and DJ studio in San Francisco.
Shane opens up about the good and bad aspects of his job, sharing the horror of watching an inmate be murdered and the fulfillment he recently found chatting with inmates about the Bible.
The pair quickly find common ground — Shane’s brother is called 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, dude,” Chris adds.
The San Francisco phone booth is set up outside of Black Serum Tattoo studio in the Mission District. Owner Brücius von Xylander said he agreed to let Matter Neuroscience set up the phone outside of his studio because he thought it would be a great medium for people across the political spectrum to engage in civil discourse.
“It seemed like a good idea to me, because it’s fun connecting with a stranger somewhere knowing that they might talk about something that is hard to speak about on social media or elsewhere,” said Von Xylander.
Von Xylander said that, so far, the response to the phone had been overwhelmingly positive both online and in person.
Meanwhile, some 1,600 miles away in Abilene, the owner of Seven and One Books, Arlene Kasselman, has also been delighted with the response to the phone outside her store.
When she first saw the bright blue phone with the “Call a Democrat” sign, she was a little nervous about how the conversations would go. But so far they have been amazing, she said, as people discuss baking, basketball, politics and more.
From her perspective, the goal is to see what it looks like to “not just be a keyboard warrior in the comments section, but to view people as human.”
“We are certainly biologically more similar than dissimilar,” she continued. “So how can we reach across the aisle?”
In our increasingly polarized society, Kasselman said she’s excited to facilitate an experience where people can have positive interactions with strangers from different backgrounds.
Goldhirsh is also delighted with the initial response and said that Matter Neuroscience had been flooded with requests to bring the phones booths to other parts of America. For example, Los Angeles rapper the Game sent a message saying the team should install phones in Bloods and Crips territories, allowing members of the enemy gangs to converse.
“We’re going to continue pushing 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.”
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