BBC reports in "How flying seriously messes with your mind."
I'd never before noticed the claim that people are more likely to cry over movies if they're watching on a plane.
There are many theories about why flying might leave passengers more vulnerable to crying – sadness at leaving loved ones, excitement about the trip ahead, homesickness. But there is also some evidence that flying itself may also be responsible.I don't know if I've ever watched a movie on a plane. I've watched parts of movies that were being shown at me and quit. I really dislike having to focus my eyes on something that's shaky. I prefer to listen to an audiobook (with my eyes closed). And of course, I prefer not to fly at all.
Posts
76 comments:
"I don't know if I've ever watched a movie on a plane."
Dallas to Sydney. Three movies over, three movies back. Now, theaters? Never set foot in them.
Try flying home to Houston, Texas from Perth, Australia. You are going to watch some movies.
But the farting on long haul flights is what can really be insufferable.
I think maybe my wife should stop flying.
Airlines don't like to show movies that feature airplane crashes in them. You're not going to catch Alive, The Gray, or Flight showing on your trans-American journey. However, years ago I was flying and was amazed that The Perfect Storm was being shown! We experienced a little turbulence during the trip, which didn't help. But part way through the movie there is a rescue helicopter that crashes during the eponymous storm. I was amazed that someone OK'ed that to be shown on a flight!
This is so weird, it's like none of these people have ever *been* on a plane and watched what goes on.
I've got 2.5M flown miles on a single airline and I could have written this study after my first year carrying a bag to visit clients.
-XC
"people are more likely to cry over movies if they're watching on a plane."
Maybe 'cause they're drinkin.
Standing 0ft about the ground on a rocky planet can do strange things to our minds.
richlb,
You're reminding me of the time -- two days after 9/11 -- when I walked into a Rite-Aid and heard "So I'm leaving on a jet plane/Don't know when I'll be back again." Too bloody soon, folks.
"And of course, I prefer not to fly at all."
Count me in that category. I DETEST flying especially the security aspects. If the trip is under five hours by car, flying seldom makes sense for me anyway.
Could this 'finding' reinforce your aversion to flying, Ann?
I used to travel often [by air] on business and never experienced any of those symptoms. The way passengers are packed in like sardines is what makes flying a miserable experience.
And, if you notice, even most birds are pretty skittish.
A young co-worker got phlebitis in her leg after not getting up during a cross-country flight. Was it Quayle who had the same thing?
I tried to avoid dehydration and ended up with sore lips from the rough edges of the cheap cups.
An emerging body of research is suggesting...
That headline screams fake news.
richlb,
Our similar experience was Proof of Life on a flight to a Central American country that had recently been taken off of the State Department "no go" list.
There were audible gasps and nervous laughter in the cabin when It started.
I'm contemplating driving where the trip is 24 hours by car!
That's how much I hate getting felt up by govt agents, loaded into a tube, and subjected to hypoxia and shitty movies.
An emerging body of research is suggesting that soaring 35,000ft above the ground inside a sealed metal tube can do almost unnoticeably trivial things to our minds, which is why the body of research is just now emerging, and merely "suggesting".
"An emerging body of research is suggesting..."
That headline screams fake news.
Yep. Emerging: There has been one small study. Suggesting: If you really twist the data there might be an associative relationship between frequent flying and frequent crying if you filter out males and passengers over 14.
I wonder if they've ever shown Snakes on a Plane...on a plane?
I suffer from tinnitus. after I land, I cannot hear much of anything for about 3-5 hours.
Not fun.
Now, I take Bose noise canceling headphone along. You forget how noisy a flight is.
Ignorance is Bliss said...
"An emerging body of research is suggesting..."
That headline screams fake news.
No kidding. The same goes for that article about teenagers.
People seem to think that "fake news" has to be about Trump or politics, but the "fake news" is about everything, all the time.
I don't mind air travel. It's SO much faster, and that alone makes it worth the agony.
I agree - the experience at the airport is a drag. I detest layovers and delays. I'd rather be stuck in a hospital than trapped in an airport.
"I'm contemplating driving where the trip is 24 hours by car!"
No contest, IMO. I only fly when there's an ocean in the way.
Forced into tiny, uncomfortable seats and helplessly reliant on the piloting and maintenance skills of people you don't know and never selected.
I'd be amazed if airline passengers weren't slightly stressed.
So what?
Words that solve most of the problems with flying: General Aviation.
Better: Global Express.
When railroads first appeared in the early 19th century, studies showed that if people traveled faster than a horse could gallop, they would go insane. Of course, they were right.
You people are sucking up all the oxygen.
Some airlines offer personal devices loaded with movies, TV shows, kids shows, music. You plug it in and set it in front of you. More and more people bring their own devices for entertainment. I detest Hillarywood, so I only occasionally watch a film. It's a good excuse to get caught up on bad Hillarywood movie watching.
I saw Hunger Games on a plane. Ru-Paul's audience would identify with the fancy pants people.
I prefer to read or play solitaire.
Being stuffed in a sealed metal tube with a lot of strangers who are all crammed so close together that we are sweating all over each other, breathing each other's exhalations and almost exchanging body fluids, is enough to mess with anyone's mind...even if you are stationary on the ground.
Flying is not an event anymore. Not something luxurious or exciting. It is torture.
I sleep on a plane. Every time. But I wake up for the "food".
My main enjoyment on a plane is people watching, seeing how they react to the experience. I try to guess their story. Mostly, in Madison, it's that they're 20-somethings getting burned out at Epic.
Cosmic Rays are not filtered out as much when
You are above the atmosphere that high.
Living in a community that was populated by Delta Pilots of olden pay rate days you ran into a serious brain cancer cluster effect. They spend days per week at 35000 feet.
That must explain all those airline pilot serial killers.
Oh, wait.
Fake science is popular these days.
"An emerging body of research is suggesting that soaring 35,000ft (10km) above the ground inside a sealed metal tube can do strange things to our minds..."
Better than plunging 35,000ft to a fiery death.
I don't know about sadness or joy. I thought the most common emotion while flying was impotent rage.
On 12 hour legs across the Pacific in a MATS DC-6 they raised the cabin pressure until the kids quieted down.
Was on a delayed but already boarded flight in Dallas during summer. The air conditioner that works while on the ground was broken. Of course no one can get off the plane because opaque airline reasons. Assholes.
All wise people refuse to fly at all.
That's how much I hate getting felt up by govt agents, loaded into a tube, and subjected to hypoxia and shitty movies.
...and shitty seats (unless you pay exorbitant fees), shitty food, expensive adult beverages...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
Flying is like magic, the security a trifle inconvenience. You complainers are spoiled brats and don't deserve any modern convenience. None. No electricity, natural gas, autos, washing machines, computers, etc. No Soup for YOU! Flying is cheap, it's fast, it's usually on time and... da da da dah, it's safe as fuck. The safety record of US and Western Nation commercial flight is so unbelievably fantastic, it makes me infinitely thankful to be lucky enough to be born into a society that can achieve such a superb technical service.
Don't give your TSA sob stories. I have 2 all-metal artificial hips since 2001 and flew all the time before the full body scanners necessitating a full personal search every single time. Hundreds of patdowns. Never, not once, had a bad experience with TSA. You know why? I always show deference, respect and good humor. If you had a bad experience, it was a mirror of your own behavior and your own fault, you spoiled little twat.
Frontier - they have low prices. You pay in other ways, like with your time. They often leave you inside the plane for a few hours, on the tarmac, until a gate opens up.
Other airlines offer this as well.
To bitch is human, to fly devine.
gerry complains: ..and shitty seats (unless you pay exorbitant fees), shitty food, expensive adult beverages...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
Flying is all about getting from point A to point B [or C or Z], not about wining and dining. I'd certainly rather fly to Europe or Asia than go by ocean liner.
Wouldn't it be grand to be able to afford chartered jets? No TSA and no crammed seats. And flexible departure schedule. If only...........
I love the "mini-me" tray tables on Frontier. Lets you know your dollar stretched to the max.
I usually rub lotion on the women sitting around me so I didn't notice anything else.
Well, the alien imprisonment field is impenetrable out past about 350 miles and has been since January 1973, letting only unmanned craft through since. You start feeling the side-effects around 30000 ft.
Flying is all about getting from point A to point B [or C or Z], not about wining and dining. I'd certainly rather fly to Europe or Asia than go by ocean liner.
9/19/17, 11:28 AM
Yep. I'd rather spend the extra money I would pay for a first class seat on fun stuff once I get to my destination. It is cramped and not much fun, but it's not like crossing the Continent via wagon train.
That said, leg room and service have certainly declined since the '70's. But so have prices.
The part I hate the most is when you have to take a shuttle quite a ways to pick up your luggage and you are jammed in with 50 other people. It's like being stuck on a crowded city bus.
I am on the same page as Althouse. I would rather drive for 24 hours or several days rather than fly. Unless it is an overseas trip, where driving is obviously an impossibility, then I might/maybe/possibly consider a flying trip depending on how badly I wanted to go.
For reasons below I prefer driving:
1. I have the time to drive and it is no longer a business necessity.
2. Taking a drive gives you the opportunity to explore, stop, spend the night at a motel, eat, nap, walk, shop, take photos of interesting things.....at your leisure. We are in control of our schedule.
3. Driving allows you to stop and meet people in areas you have never been before and not be crammed up next to them for hours at a time.
4. You don't get felt up by total strangers upon entering your car. OTH...Getting felt up by my husband is a perk for a driving trip :-)
5. Your luggage arrives with you! and no one has had the opportunity to steal your stuff or rifle through your underwear.
6. I like the experience of just driving
I had always assumed my depression on air planes was a result of being treated like livestock from the time of arrival at the airport through the flight. I recall being exhilarated by flying in the early 70's.
I have not flown anywhere in about a decade because I found I felt better after spending 16 to 24 hours driving over two or three days than after I took a 3 hour flight.
2. Taking a drive gives you the opportunity to explore, stop, spend the night at a motel, eat, nap, walk, shop, take photos of interesting things.....at your leisure. We are in control of our schedule.
My wife and I went to Nantucket for our 10th wedding anniversary, but we flew into Providence, rented a car, and drove up the coast to Hyannis Port to catch the ferry. It was late October, so there was the whole "leafer" thing, but I honestly just wanted to see a part of the country from a car, where we could stop where we wanted, when we wanted, to get out and take pictures. There's some stunning architecture along that route, not to mention some excellent museums and parks.
"For reasons below I prefer driving:"
You have wheels when you get there.
Why would anyone watch a movie with a tiny screen bouncing around, timmy sound quality, and frequent interruptions?
Except maybe: "The advertisement says a free poke in the eye is included with the price. I know I ain't gonna like it, but goddammit I paid for it so I ain't leaving without it."
As I am retired now, I prefer taking my RV within the continental US. No need for motels or restaurants.
You have wheels when you get there.
OMG Yes! No worrying about a rental car or having to take public transportation.
@ Mockturtle
I prefer taking my RV within the continental US. No need for motels or restaurants.
The best of both/all worlds. Lucky you!!
We love traveling and staying in our 24 ft trailer. All the comforts of home (hot showers, A/C or heat, laptop, wireless speakers for music, fridge, stove, oven, etc etc etc) No DVD player or flat screen yet for movies :-) Plus when we go someplace all we have to do is to load up our food, drinks and clothing and hit the road.
However, we do stop at some restaurants for variety and ethnic foods that are too hard to cook in a trailer.
The people who fly many times are year receiving higher cosmic radiation dosages going through the tops of their skulls. Radiation strikes can cause cancer cell mutations. But human immune systems eliminate the mutant cancer cells, up until the day when it is overwhelmed by numbers.
The sunspots (Solar flares) bent around earth by our magnetic field cause a temporary barrier to cosmic rays. Ergo: the current Solar Minimum leaves Earth open to higher cosmic radiation. Those CRs also seed cloud formations that block sun light thereby causing today's Global Cooling trend. But incidence Brain Cancers will increase among Airline crews and other frequent fliers.
Sure beats going to California in covered wagons.
I do think flying takes it toll physically. The longer the flight, the more I feel like crap.
The pressure changes, the low humidity, the stale air, the stress, the noise, the radiation bombardment. the crappy drinks.
You get tired because flying is boring, hopefully. The big rule to avoid anxiety is to use time to your advantage, get to the airport with plenty of time. If you fly a lot, get TSA Pre or Global Entry. It makes life easier. If you are not an elite flyer or want to pay full price for a ticket, don't plan on taking your bags with you (but, except for the cheapest fares, you can usually gate check for free). They treat regular flyers better because we are steady money, thousands of dollars year in, year out. It's fair in economic terms.
Dallas to Tokyo or Seoul, 6 movies. It's different on a long haul flight. You have your own screen. I was on one of the last 777 before they upgraded the interiors. The screen was horrible. Stuff was broken. My wife's video didn't work and they brought her an ipad. It was so much better I was trying to break mine so I could get one. Nothing like 13-14 hours in a plane.
Flying at the equivalent of 8,000 feet does have an impact on your body. Food doesn't taste the same. You have to add more salt and pepper.
Love these "Emerging bodies of research" articles. The phrase actually means one or two inquiries, if any.
Althouse would be more believable if she simply dropped to the fact that she is afraid of flying. There is nothing wrong with that as irrational as it is. So you would rather drive twenty four hours than fly for three because of the shitty movies? LOL . We even have a
"crappy drinks" excuse provided by Dickin'Bimbos@home which is ridiculous in the extreme. Crappy how? You try to order a Manhattan on a plane? The drinks they serve are normal drinks like Jack Daniels and CocaCola and Sprite. Oh, and water and coffee. Starbucks on Delta. Very very rare to get "felt up" by TSA. Maybe one percent? Doubt it is that.
I am with Howard on this. Flying is a miracle. I can fly to NY in the morning, have a full day and be in my own bed the same night. Drive that. I have spent four hours flying and another four hours getting to and from airports and hanging around some. In eight hours I would be getting close to Richmond and have only another six hours to go. Cool huh? I can get out at rotten rest stops and take a piss and grab some junk food at any one of a hundred look-alike exits on the way. Maybe meet some interesting people, talk about gas prices and how I am not getting felt up in an airport and being crammed into a blue tube.
Now you can go from NY to Southampton on the Queen Elizabeth at the same price as a coach air ticket and do it in five days. There is a certain logic to being able to have three meals a day plus a place to sleep for the same price as the airplane. In fact, it might be cheaper to just move to the ship and live there going back and forth making friends and talking about the horrors of air travel.
Face it. If you hate air travel that much you really are in no hurry .
I only fly once or twice a year, internationally or to Hawaii, and I solved the problem described by others here by going first class or business class. First to board, first ones off, more leg room, free entertainment, better food and drink and more of it, far better service. What's not to like? Yeah, it costs more, but there are tricks to help reduce that cost, and it takes what would have been a miserable experience and turns it into a pleasurable one. And you meet much more interesting people.
I felt horrible immediately on a 2 hour layover in O'Hare in Aug 2008. Wanted to lie down and die. I assume it was allergies, but I've never had them like that (also my 1st time in Midwest--is your pollen different?). Back to normal as soon as I was on the plane.
It's probably the sardine effect, where near proximity suppresses and transfers qualities.
I've never found myself crying more easily on planes than in theatres, but (a) I am easily moved by pictures and especially by music (I get teary eyed at the symphony), and (b) I watch a lot more movies on planes than anywhere else so I don't really have a frame of reference.
The security rigmarole is tiresome, but once on the plane itself things are all right, for me, even in economy. I do have to keep my weight down, though, because every additional inch around my waistline is an incremental inch of discomfort. Bose noise cancelling headphones, mentioned above, help a lot. Also, I wear masks on any flight over two hours, so my lips and throat don't dry out as much.
Oh....I forgot another important perk to driving when you can as opposed to flying.
No one is going to be wearing a bomb or trying to blow up my car.
I know statistically we are more likely to be in a car crash than an air crash event....but...after driving for about half a century and not being in any accidents, I'm willing to take my chances.
When I had to fly several times a year to our corporate headquarters in the Midwest, I was asked if I was afraid of flying. The answer is No. Just of taking off and landing :-D
It all depends on why you are traveling. If you are going from Chicago to LA on a 5 day business trip, obviously you're going to fly. If you are retired and want to drive to California from Chicago, obviously you have the time to take an RV and get off the main drags and explore all sorts of little byways and small towns and so on. If you are not retired and have 2 weeks of vacation, you might not want to spend days just getting to where you want to be. (Some do - my brother and his wife and kids have driven to DC and Florida and New Hampshire on vacation because it's just too expensive to buy plane tickets for 5 people and my brother likes to drive.)
One reason passenger trains are impractical in America is because of our vast distances, unlike compact Europe, where you can easily leave London in the morning and have lunch in Paris. That's also true of car travel. If there is someplace you have to get to in a hurry or you have a limited amount of time, flying is the way to go.
One thing about flying is that if you are coming down with something, you will feel 10 times worse once you are in the air. I caught a bad cold and some sort of bug before flying out of Salt Lake City and by the time we got to Dallas-Fort Worth I wanted to crawl into a corner and die. And that was just where I had to switch flights. I still had another 3 hours of flying in front of me...
How typical, for the conservatwerps here to applaud the conclusion without even bothering to read the thing, let alone put it into any sort of context with the other findings whatsoever.
Conservative "thinking":
1. Identify conclusions you should have about the world based on political biases.
2. Seek ways to confirm them and to discredit empirical challenges to them.
3. Make sure that presumed social "needs" determine what is or isn't an acceptable finding about the natural world.
Driving could be a safe as flying if:
Vehicle density was so low that 95% of the time you couldn't even see another car;
All drivers were trained professionals driving with assistants, neither of whom was allowed to drink before driving;
You had a team of mechanics to check your care before every drive;
In bad weather you had a radar system to help navigate; and
When it came time to park there was yet another team of professionals to help make sure you got safely to your parking space.
I cry when watching movies on the plane because I miss so much of the dialog due to the noise that I cry in frustration.
P-38s flew in WW2 up to 44,000 ft. Something tells me this whole thing is BS.
altering our mood, changing how our senses work and even making us itch more
So can cleaning out the basement. Who gives a fuck?
If you look carefully enough, you'll find correlations everywhere - just don't look at the obvious causes because then the scientist (sic) won't be able to demonstrate their superiority.
Simple answer; flying is a stressful endeavor, not because we are flying, but the deliberate environment created puts people under stress. No matter how much the flight attendants say 'we hope you enjoyed your flight; we enjoyed having you with us, today'.
If the research is studying possible problems with the layout of seating, I could see it being interesting. Seats have been shrinking and getting closer for decades, there's bound to be a point where that starts making people angry.
Post a Comment