Daily Campus

You wake up Saturday morning after a long night of partying. You sit up in bed and try to piece together what you remember from the night before. A sudden fear overwhelms you. You grab your cell phone and check the last numbers you called, praying your parents’, or ex-boyfriend’s or new crush’s numbers do not appear on the list of outgoing calls.

Many college students know this situation well and realize the dangers of calling people while intoxicated. Drunk dialing has become a major problem (or pastime) at American universities where no shortage of cell phones, alcohol and young people exists. In fact, in a recent survey conducted by Virgin Mobile of 400 people, 95 percent of cell phone users admitted to drunk dialing.

Now, students can set their fears aside by using a new cell phone service offered by Virgin Mobile Australia that could make this hobby a thing of the past. The service works to prevent cell phone users from dialing certain numbers while under the influence.

In order for the service to work, users need to dial “333” plus the number that they want to protect. Virgin Mobile will then prohibit all calls to the number until 6 a.m. the following morning.

Virgin Mobile hopes that the service will help their customers to protect themselves from embarrassment. Users can block important phone numbers - those of their parents, bosses, and exes - before they go out partying for the night.

The phone company decided to launch the service after noticing an epidemic rise in drunk-dialing incidents across Australia. Of the 95 percent of people surveyed who admitted to dialing while intoxicated, 35 percent of them drunk dial more than once a week, and exes receive 30 percent of those calls.

While Virgin Mobile Australia has offered the service since December 2004, Virgin Mobile USA has yet to adopt the service. They plan to offer it in the future, but have not established a definitive timeline.

When questioned as to whether or not they would use the service if it came to SMU, students had varying responses. Sophomore Nga Ho thinks that it is a good idea. She added, “If you have an ex-boyfriend who you don’t want to call, you can block the number so you don’t accidentally call him out of habit.”

Sophomore Meredith Keltner thinks that it would be in her best interest to use the service as well. She says, “My mom doesn’t appreciate my calls at 2 a.m., so it might help her get more sleep at night.”

Other students, however, do not think the service would solve the drunk-dialing problem at SMU. Sophomore Courtney Kenny thinks that drunk dialing is harmless and that the service would not work for her. Courtney wonders, “How would I find late night if I block all of my numbers before I go out?”

Sophomore Blake Goodman thinks “the reason people drunk dial is because they think it’s fun, so a service like this will not put an end to it. Drunk dialing will probably always exist at SMU.” He adds, “For the record, I do not drink and dial.”

Goodman may be correct. A group on TheFacebook.com titled “Drunk Dialers R Us” has over 190 members and 20 groupies from SMU. The group profile, which admits, “Having a beer in one hand and a cell in the other is too sweet to resist,” also has links to websites such as drunkdialer.com. This Web site sells T-shirts so that wearers can show the world they dial under the influence.

With evidence supporting the popularity of this practice, the service has the potential to benefit a number of people worldwide. However, the service is not fail-proof. In case of emergency, a user can dial “333 CLEAR” to unblock all of the numbers. While necessary for safety reasons, the option of canceling blocked numbers seems to void the service altogether, since nothing can stop people from clearing the block while under the influence.

Using the service also has its costs—Virgin Mobile Australia argues that the 25-cent charge is a small price to pay for your peace of mind. The company has yet to comment on the success of the service.

The Web site Slackertown.com also hopes to curb the problem of drunk dialing. The site encourages people to call their number, (321) 600-1200, instead of those of friends and family while drunk. The calls are then posted for the enjoyment of internet viewers and ranked according to gender, drunkenness and comic value.

For more information and statistics concerning the service and its availability in the United States visit virginmobile.com.

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