I'm Starting to Get Paranoid

When a person sees a number that is notable for some reason, they give the number more attention than they give all the other numbers they see during the course of a day.

The Starting to See Certain Numbers Again and Again article, and also Why You See Certain Numbers All the Time, have lots of related information.

Here is a brief synopsis.

Because the person gave the number more attention, even if it was just a momentary "oh, there's that number again", then the person will more likely remember seeing that number. Because no other numbers are remembered as having been seen, it seems as if the remembered number is the only one that was seen.

Generally, the numbers people remember seeing have personal meaning, emotional significance, or unique composition. Examples are a birth day, the favorite number of a significant other, and numbers with sequential or mirrored digits (like 1234 or 1441).

Something happens when a person wonders why they are seeing a specific number or sets of numbers: The wondering makes the number become emotionally significant.

Now, there is even more reason to remember the number whenever it is seen.

The more the number is seen and remembered, the more the person wonders what the meaning is — and the more emotionally significant the number becomes.

It can get to the point where the person wonders if they are going crazy.

The only meaning that seeing the number has is that the seeing is being remembered. The number itself may have other subjective meaning for the person, but the meaning of the seeing is simply that the seeing is remembered.