Say Goodbye to 2020 by Screaming Into the Void

Two women sit exhausted on a couch in a messy room between four balloons that make the number 2020.

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What could better express our collective feelings about this beast of a year than an incoherent scream?

A new hotline invites callers to do just that. Simply dial +1-561-567-8431, wait until you hear the beep, scream, and hang up.

Better yet, you can visit this link to listen to the screams that have gone before you. They’re even organized into helpful categories like new screams, laughing screams, and screams with pets yowling along in the background.

The hotline is called Just Scream, and it’s the brainchild of New York elementary school teacher and artist Chris Gollmar. He came up with the idea for this participatory art project in September 2020, and it went live just before the U.S. presidential election, a time when Americans of all political stripes were undoubtedly feeling the need to let off some steam.

A woman screams with her eyes closed and her mouth wide open.

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You might think of screaming as immature or unproductive, but unrestrained wailing was a prominent therapeutic method in the 1970s. Created by Arthur Janov, “primal therapy” encouraged patients to call up repressed childhood pain and unleash it through hysteria, violence, or screaming. This uninhibited self-expression would, in theory, help the patient process and resolve their lingering fears and anxieties. The technique gained traction with celebrities like John Lennon and James Earl Jones, which helped to popularize it with the general public.

Primal therapy has since fallen out of fashion, and many psychologists are skeptical about its scientific underpinnings. Still, screaming to yourself might have some value as a way to purge pent-up emotions, as long as you truly use it as a release and don’t overdo it. You should also refrain from yelling at other people, which can cause them distress and put a strain on your relationships. Therapists who use screaming and other vocalizations in their practices recommend that you only attempt the technique under the supervision of an experienced psychologist.

A man shouts into a telephone receiver.

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Just Scream’s mission seems to be partly therapeutic, partly entertainment, and entirely artistic. The project welcomes screams of any kind. According to the website, "You might be unhappy, terrified, frustrated, or elated. All of these are perfectly good reasons to call and record yourself screaming."

The Just Scream hotline will be open until January 21, 2021—after that, all recorded screams will be archived. So take the opportunity now, and vent your feelings for posterity!