Phones in dreams

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon, or if it is only my thing, but why is it impossible to use a phone in dreams?

For as long as I can remember in my dreams if I've needed to use the phone, I know what number I need but I constantly mis-dial until I give up.

A lot of my dreams have involved trying to dial 999, (for the police) but I can never do it. I try phoning my mum's number, no joy.

Only the other week I dreamed that I lost my mobile and was trying to ring it to find out where it was. I knew my mobile number, but I kept pressing the wrong numbers.

In the end I went up to this guy I knew and asked him if he would ring it and I said my mobile number out loud. He didn't call it because he got distracted.

I just don't understand why I can never use a phone in my dreams.

Does anyone else experience this? Anyone got any theories?

That is strange.
What's stranger still is that I don't think I've ever used, let alone seen, a phone in my dreams. Then again, phones are something I take for granted so I may have just not payed attention to them when they were present.

My theory, based on psychology, is that phones are used for communication, and the inability to properly use the phone by dialing the correct number tells me that you have inner anxiety about your ability to communicate and reach out to others. You try but get frustrated.

In our dreams is where we work out our subconscious issues, usually in symbolic form.

reply to post by Eirian


Not sure, but the animated movie Waking Life by Richard Linklater is a great source for this quandry.

I lucid dream, and one way I can tell I am dreaming and "wake myself up" in the dream is to recognize words or numbers and try to read them.. words are inert, they don't really represent anything but a way to translate our intangible thoughts into something communicable, so maybe our subconscious minds cannot interpret them in the sleep dimension. This would have something to do with your cell phone issues.

Also, a good way to tell you are dreaming is to try to turn a light switch on or off.. it is seemingly impossible to physically adjust light levels in a dream.

I've had dreams with phones a good few times but don't think I've ever tried to phone anyone. What I have experienced more than once though is answering a phone but unable to make out what the person on the other side is trying to say. They always seemed to have been mumbling or there is a loud noise which stops me from hearing what they are trying to say to me.

I love dreams, its such a wonderful subject.

But funny, when I think about it, I don't think I have ever seen a phone in my dreams?
Don't you think that because you can't use the phone is because something similar happened sometime in your normal life?

It does sound like you know about dreaming, so I guess you know how it all works (or that is what the scientists says, haha).

i've NEVER correctly dialed a phone number in a dream. I've gotten close recently however...

reply to post by michaelbrux


Yes I seem to be getting closer. If I concentrate hard enough.

I've never noticed a problem with phones in dreams, mostly just getting from A to B. I often find myself trying to cross a room or go up a little set of stairs when suddenly I'm wading through rubbish or the floor is tilted so I just can't reach where I'm going. Or I'm squashed between floor and ceiling like I'm alice and I just took a 'giant' pill and there's only just enough space to squeeze through. Your phone problem are nothing compared to all that.

reply to post by Paulos


You've actually triggered a memory here for me. I have managed to get through to the police but was either interrupted or they couldn't hear me or something. But they did turn up anyway I guess after tracing the call.

For a number of years I dreamed I was being held prisoner by some unknown person. They would leave and I would try to use the phone to dial 999.

I also managed to get around it once by remembering the non-emergency number 101 and I managed to dial that.

I think the dream me finally escaped as I haven't had those dreams since.

reply to post by ypperst


Well I;ve never had the problem before the dreams started, or before I noticed the phone issue. However, a few months ago I dreamed I was tying to phone my mum, and I couldn't get the numbers in the right order.

Later in the day I was trying to phone my mum and in real life I couldn't get the numbers in the right order. It was only that one time. Weird

i have never used a phone or walkie-talkie in any dream

in my dreams, i expect that all the other people in my dreamscape just 'knows' the situation or else like myself has an operational ability to communicate telepathically...or else to 'know' what is hidden because of the ability to communicate by tapping into the collective = universal consciousness = noosphere


in other dreamscapes, i have run into landmines, guns, missiles etc...all sorts of technology...but never used phones

hmmmm ?

reply to post by St Udio


Well I don't remember phones being part of my dreams until 2004. I'd had a mobile phone since 1996 so it wasn't that I'd suddenly got one, and I've used phones as part of my job daily since 1995 so I just don't understand it.

reply to post by wigit


I don't have problems getting around in my dreams. I have a tendency to forget I have a car and start walking only to remember miles down the road that I left my car somewhere. Suddenly I'm always where I need to be.

But I do have an issue with stairs in my dreams. I don't have a problem with them in reality, but in my dreams they are always steep and scary to me. I've had to come down them on my bum before now

That one has been with me for a long long time.

I to have had similar dreams of not being able
to complete dialing a phone number. The dreams
where infrequent and where some years ago. I vaguely
remember one instance when I did make contact with
someone only to hear a few words and have the conversation
end as if the other party just stoped talking. I can offer no
reason for this type of dream, however it is very strange.