justscream.baby

JUST SCREAM! is a phone-based art project that collected and published recordings of people screaming. Callers dialed in, waited for a beep, screamed, and hung up. The original project stopped accepting new recordings on January 21, 2021, but the archive of past screams is still available to listen to, and the site says new ways to scream are coming.

How it worked

The process had three steps:

1. Call — Between October 2020 and January 2021, callers from around the world left over 150,000 recordings.
2. Scream — People screamed for joy, rage, frustration, loneliness, and everything else worth screaming about.
3. Listen — Recording is closed for now, but the collected screams can still be heard on the site.

Can you still call and scream?

No. The original Just Scream project closed on January 21, 2021. The site states that new ways to scream are coming soon, but as of the available information, there is no active phone line for leaving a scream.

What you can still do is listen to the archive of recordings submitted by hundreds of thousands of callers.

Finding your own screams

If you called during the project window and want a link to your own recordings, email [email protected] with your phone number. The site notes that your phone number is visible when you call but will never be shared with anyone; the Privacy Policy has more detail.

Why people called

The site's own framing is simple: to scream. Reasons listed include being unhappy, terrified, frustrated, or elated — all treated as perfectly good reasons to record yourself screaming. It even encourages doing this in public, with the caveat of perhaps not in a crowded theater.

Who made it

JUST SCREAM! was created by Chris Gollmar, described as a teacher, occasional artist, and generally rather quiet person.

Practical details

For anything beyond finding your own screams, the site points to its Terms of Service, development notes, and open source credits.

No. The original JUST SCREAM! phone line closed on January 21, 2021, so you cannot call in and record a new scream at this time. The site still works as an archive: you can listen to the more than 150,000 recordings collected between October 2020 and January 2021, and the page says new ways to scream are coming soon.

What JUST SCREAM! Was

JUST SCREAM! was a phone project by Chris Gollmar, described as a teacher, occasional artist, and generally rather quiet person. The concept was deliberately minimal:

1. Call — between October 2020 and January 2021, callers from around the world left over 150,000 recordings.
2. Scream — people screamed with joy, rage, frustration, loneliness, and everything else there is to scream about.
3. Listen — the recordings were uploaded to the site for anyone to hear.

The site is now an archive of what hundreds of thousands of callers submitted.

What You Can Do Now

Privacy and Your Phone Number

If you called during the project window, the site could see your phone number but states it will never share it with anyone. The full details are in the site's Privacy Policy. If you want a link to your own recordings, you have to email your phone number to [email protected] yourself.

Why People Called

The stated reason is simple: to scream. The site lists unhappiness, terror, frustration, and elation as perfectly good reasons to call and record yourself. It also asks people to do this in public — except perhaps not in a crowded theater.

Other Ways to Reach the Project

• Find your own screams: email [email protected] with your phone number.
• General comments or questions: email [email protected].
• Terms and technical background: the site links to its Terms of Service, development notes, and open source credits.
• Instagram: @justscream.baby.

If your goal is to scream into a phone line today, this particular project cannot help you right now. If your goal is to hear how other people screamed, or to track down your own old recordings, the archive and the email request are still the way in.

People call JUST SCREAM! because the project gives them a private, consequence-free outlet for any strong emotion—joy, rage, frustration, loneliness, or anything else worth screaming about. The site's own answer to "Why should I call you?" is simply "To scream!" and it explicitly lists being unhappy, terrified, frustrated, or elated as "perfectly good reasons." If you want a place to make noise without explaining yourself to anyone, this is what the project was built for.

What the project actually is

JUST SCREAM! is a phone-based recording archive created by Chris Gollmar, described as "a teacher, occasional artist, and generally rather quiet person." The mechanic is deliberately minimal:

1. Call — between October 2020 and January 2021, callers from around the world left over 150,000 recordings.
2. Scream — people screamed with joy, rage, frustration, loneliness, and everything else there is to scream about.
3. Listen — the recordings were uploaded to the site as a public archive anyone can hear.

The site frames itself as "an archive of the recordings we received from hundreds of thousands of callers," so the emotional range is the point, not a side effect.

Why screaming into a phone works for people

The reasons map onto the emotions the project documents:

• No audience, no judgment. You call, wait for the beep, scream, and hang up. There's no conversation and no one reacting in the moment.
• Permission to feel something extreme. The site treats elation and terror as equally valid reasons to call, which lowers the bar for "is this a good enough reason?"
• Anonymity of expression. You can be loud without it being attached to your face, your name, or your social circle.
• It becomes part of something shared. Your recording joins an archive of hundreds of thousands of other people doing the same thing, which turns a private moment into a collective one.

Can you call and scream right now?

No. The original Just Scream project closed on January 21, 2021, and the site states that "new ways to scream are coming soon." So the phone line is not currently open for new recordings.

What you can still do:

• Listen to the archive of everything collected.
• Find your own screams by emailing [email protected] with your phone number to get a link to your own recordings.

What about privacy and your phone number?

The site says it can see your phone number when you call but "will never share it with anyone," and points to its Privacy Policy for details. If retrieving your own recordings, you email your phone number to the address above—so your number is the identifier used to match you to your screams. If that trade-off matters to you, weigh it before requesting your recordings.

Is this for you?

It's a good fit if you want a no-explanation outlet for a strong feeling, or if you're curious to hear how strangers across the world express the same emotions. It's not a fit if you need a currently active phone line—that part is closed for now. And if you do scream in public, the site's own advice is to go ahead, "except not, perhaps, in a crowded theater."

JUST SCREAM! (justscream.baby) can see your phone number when you call, but the site states it will never share that number with anyone. The trade-off is that the recordings themselves are not private: any sounds you submit are uploaded to the site for anyone to hear. If you want a link to your own recordings, you can email your phone number to the site and they will send it back to you.

What the site sees when you call

According to the site's own FAQ, the operators can see your phone number when you call in. That is standard for any phone call — caller ID data reaches the receiving line. The site's stated commitment is narrow and specific: it will not share your number with anyone. For the full wording, the site points to its Privacy Policy.

What happens to your recording

This is the part worth reading carefully before you dial:

• When you call, the site records you making sounds — "hopefully screaming," in its words.
• Recordings submitted by users are uploaded to the site so anyone can listen.
• The site describes itself as an archive of recordings received from hundreds of thousands of callers.

So the privacy boundary is: your phone number stays private, but your voice recording does not. If you would not want a stranger to hear the audio, do not leave it on the line.

Getting a link to your own screams

If you want to find your own recordings, the site offers a manual lookup:

1. Email [email protected].
2. Include your phone number in the message.
3. You will receive a link to your own screams in return.

This means you are voluntarily handing over the same phone number the site already sees when you call, in exchange for access to your recordings.

Current status: you cannot call right now

The original Just Scream project closed on January 21, 2021. The site says new ways to scream are coming soon, but as of the site's current content, calling in is not an active option. Between October 2020 and January 2021, callers from around the world left over 150,000 recordings — you can still listen to that archive.

Practical privacy checklist

If your main concern is your phone number, the site's stated policy addresses it. If your concern is the audio itself, treat every call as a public submission.

JUST SCREAM! stopped recording new screams on January 21, 2021, but the archive is still online and you can still retrieve your own recordings. To find your screams, email [email protected] with your phone number and you'll receive a link to your own screams. The same address handles general comments and questions. Below is what you can still do, what you can't, and how the project handles your data.

Can I still call and scream right now?

No. The original Just Scream project closed on January 21, 2021, and the site states that new ways to scream are coming soon. What remains is an archive: between October 2020 and January 2021, callers from around the world left over 150,000 recordings, and you can listen to everything collected.

If your goal is simply to scream into a phone line, that option isn't available at the moment. If your goal is to hear the archive or recover something you recorded during the project window, you can still do both.

How to find your own screams

1. Email [email protected].
2. Include the phone number you used when you called.
3. Wait for a reply with a link to your own screams.

The phone number is the key that ties you to your recordings, which is why the request has to include it. If you called from more than one number, send each one separately.

How to contact the project

What happens to your phone number

The project states that it can see your phone number when you call but will never share it with anyone. The Privacy Policy on the site has the full details. This matters if you're deciding whether to request your recordings: the retrieval process depends on the project matching your number to your calls, so your number is already part of how the archive works.

Who made this

JUST SCREAM! was made by Chris Gollmar, described on the site as a teacher, occasional artist, and generally rather quiet person. The project's own framing is deliberately simple: call, wait for the beep, scream, and hang up. People screamed with joy, rage, frustration, loneliness, and everything else there is to scream about.

Quick answers

Is it free? The site doesn't state pricing, so treat cost as unconfirmed rather than assuming it's free.

Can I do this in public? The site's own answer is yes, please do this in public — except perhaps not in a crowded theater.

Why would anyone call? To scream. Being unhappy, terrified, frustrated, or elated are all described as perfectly good reasons.