Communications Major

Why phone calls? Unlike signatures on a Change.org petition—or tweets or Facebook comments—a phone call can't be scrolled past; when you call your representative or senator, a staffer has to take the time to speak to you and write down your comments (or copies down what you say in your voicemail). A day of sustained phone calls from an outraged public played a big role in convincing congressional Republicans not to declaw the Office of Congressional Ethics.

For a generation of phone-phobic Americans who haven't spoken into a telephone since we came up with apps for ordering pizza, "call your representative" is a small task that can sound daunting. Social media in the weeks after the election was flooded with posts from users desperate to make their voices heard but stymied by the anxiety of actually calling. (I was one of them; I have intense phone anxiety, and after my first phone call to my senator, I had to cry into a cup of tea for a few minutes.) This is what Zisook and organizers like her hope to change—to normalize two-way communication between representatives and their constituents.