What the OP may call "lighthearted", "chasing a high", and "an unexpected education" I call "No. Don't do it." I'm not speaking as the recipient here. I'm spea

What the OP may call "lighthearted", "chasing a high", and "an unexpected education" I call "No. Don't do it." I'm not speaking as the recipient here. I'm speaking as someone who was hauled in front of the police because what I considered "lighthearted" had scared the hell out of an unsuspecting (albeit naive) family. While I was giggling at a random number, they were worried that someone had selected them for abuse and a knock on the door was next. The OP makes the comparison to trolling, and determines trolling is worse because of the "raw anonymity". I would suspect most people would prefer that anonymity over the "intimacy" of having an anonymous voice on the other end of your phone line making similar accusations or hurling profanities. Hilarious as some prank calls genuinely are, they weren't really acceptable then. And they aren't now.