While most of us actively try to avoid disasters, there are those who seek them out. No, not storm chasers or war correspondents — well, they do, too — but people who spend their screen time watching scary stuff.
While humans’ natural morbid curiosity is partially to blame for watching train crashes or hot air balloon trips gone wrong, some take comfort in watching them to overcome their fears, experts tell The Washington Post in a new article about the phenomenon.
“We want to understand death,” Georgia State University professor Cynthia Hoffner explains. Her expertise is in the psychological effects of media use.
She continues, “We’re all going to die at some point. Curiosity about that is part of human life.”
One person named Simon says he’ll take in plane crash videos before boarding a flight. “These videos give me anxiety, yet they’re kind of soothing,” he explains. “It’s like sucking on a canker sore.”
He adds, “You’re tapping into this pure, raw, almost primal instinct that you don’t get in your day-to-day life. It makes you feel more alive to stare death in the face.”
He is not alone: A subreddit called r/sweatypalms — featuring all sorts of anxiety-provoking videos from spiders to footage taken from very high up — has some 2.4 million users. Further subreddits are dedicated to specific phobias.
“In a safe context, you can experience fear and desensitize yourself,” Hoffner explains, noting exposure therapy — like watching stuff that scare you — can be used to treat phobias.