There is a new trend among those who travel by plane, which is to leave all entertainment on board except the flight map.
Michael Seeley once spent a four-hour flight simply relaxing – no magazines, no movies, no podcasts, just looking out the window and looking at the flight map.
Seeley, a California therapist who specializes in working with men, sees it as a form of digital detox and meditation. Yet a growing number of young people online are doing the same thing, but with a completely different concept: They call it “raw hazing” (the English name given to the recent trend of not having any kind of entertainment on flights).
“I was tired of the usual routine of watching a movie or reading a book[on the plane]so I said, ‘I’m going to stare into space and use this as a meditation,’” Seeley says of her relaxing experience on board. The therapist understands that it can be difficult to get some men to embrace meditation, mindfulness, or anything else that might be considered “spiritual.”
Although he told CNN he wasn’t familiar with the term “crude harassment” being used in this specific way, he can understand why the odd term might appeal to a certain type of traveler.
“Men love challenges,” he begins. “It’s socially acceptable for men to brag about something like that. I also think it might be more of a male mindset: I like a challenge, let me see if I can overcome this. It’s a wise practice, but with masculine language.” In that sense, some men have taken up the challenge and not only avoided the onboard entertainment, or didn’t eat or drink on board, or even got up to go to the bathroom.
The trend has gained popularity on social media, with TikTok users competing to see who can take the longest trip with the fewest amenities.
A British DJ named oiwudini has racked up 1.3 million likes for a video in which he bragged about taking a seven-hour flight without headphones, sleep or other amenities. One follower even described the experience as an “amazing dopamine detox.”
Some women are also taking part in the experiment. Tiktokker Veronica Skaia said it was her favorite way to travel. “I keep looking into the abyss and I see this little GPS plane,” she said in a video that received 9,905 comments.
In GQ, reporter Kate Lindsay attributes one of the origins of the trend to the Apple TV show Hijack, in which Idris Elba’s character travels on a plane without a cell phone or any other device. However, in the series, Elba’s character doesn’t have much time to stare into space, as he’s busy trying to negotiate with a group of terrorists who’ve hijacked the plane he’s on.
