Drunk dialing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drunk dialing is a pop culture term describing when an individual is intoxicated and decides to place phone calls. The term mostly likely was derived as a parody of drunk driving, intended to imply similar undesired consequences.

1 Dynamics
2 Application
3 Drunk dialing in the media
4 Notes

[edit] Dynamics

Drunken dialing typically takes place late at night where the caller returns home from an eventful evening at a bar, club, party, or other festive event that includes alcohol. Under the influence, the person will place calls to selected individuals whose number he or she possesses, in order to engage them in nonsensical conversation at odd hours of the night.

[edit] Application

Drunken dialing could be associated with another phone trend colloquially referred to as a booty call, in which a person will call an individual seeking sexual relations late at night. Since alcohol is notorious for lowering one's inhibitions, the booty call is more likely to emerge during drunken dialing situations, as opposed to sober circumstances.

[edit] Drunk dialing in the media

The New York Post,^[1] the New York Times,^[2] and the Washington Post^[3]have all reported on drunk dialing. Cell phone manufacturers and carriers are helping callers prevent drunk dialing. Virgin Mobile has launched an option to help its users stop drunk dialing by initiating multi-hour bans on calling specific numbers^[4] and the LG Group introduced the LP4100 mobile phone, which includes a breathalyzer.^[5] Although the breathalyzer function was incorporated to help the user assess fitness to drive, rather than fitness to phone, the owner can program the LP4100 to restrict calls to specific telephone numbers on certain days or after a certain hour, a feature that might help limit drunk dialing by eliminating calls when the user is more likely to be intoxicated. Some reports indicate that this phone, or a planned future version for U.S. release, would activate the call-blocking function in tandem with the blood alcohol content results from the breathalyzer.^[6]^[7]

Pat O'Brien entered a drug rehabilitation center on March 20, 2006, as recordings surfaced throughout the media of his persistent intoxicated and sexually explicit drunken dialing voicemail messages to an undisclosed female.