It sounds ruder than it is, and experts say it could be beneficial for your mental health
Consider the situation: you’re on board an eight-hour flight to New York, buckled in, and realise that the in-flight entertainment system isn’t working. You’ve also forgotten to pre-order your vegetarian meal, and your phone, laptop, or tablet battery is completely drained.
To make matters worse, the flight leaves in the morning, meaning you can’t simply snooze through the entire journey.
For most holidaymakers, being trapped in the air for a protracted period with no form of diversion could incite panic. However, a new cluster of regular flyers is purposefully opting out from any kind of engagement during flights.
This trend, dubiously named ‘raw-dogging’, is rapidly spreading across social media platforms at a pace comparable to a Concorde.
Disconnect and zone out.
Once you get past the misleadingly sexual overtones associated with the term (rest assured, this trend has nothing to do with illicit activities in the airplane restrooms), the act itself is anything but thrilling. Quite the reverse, actually.
Adopting a similar approach to a Buddhist monk entering a Zen-like meditative state, participants achieve a tranquil ecstasy by disconnecting, zoning out, and empty-gazing into the void.
Strangely, this peculiar act appears to be predominantly popular among men. According to GQ, the movement was spurred on by a post shared by West, a 26 year old Londoner, who boasted about his experience spending seven hours of flight time staring at the seat screen map.
“Anyone else bareback flights? ” he wrote. Addressing requests from curious followers asking for more insight into the practice, he’s since shared additional explanatory ‘raw flight’ videos, including a 21-hour barren stint from London to Perth.
The supreme challenge.
Some converts to the trend of ‘raw-dogging’ flightseschewing in-flight entertainment and mealsclaim it helps them manage a fear of flying, while others treat the practice as a personal challenge, akin to the self-denial experienced by a priest entering a religious order.
“In-flight entertainment? You can watch that stuff anywhere. You know what you can’t do everyday? Look out the window and see how small things become as you get further away from the earth. It’s incredible,” a forward-thinking @KennethAzor tweeted back in 2022.
The movement isn’t just about challenging oneself; it also includes moments of tranquillity and self-discovery.
Medical professionals have long stressed the need for mental downtime, and this approach to flying might offer just that.
“Our brains are like sponges,” explains psychologist Dr. Scott Bea from the Cleveland Clinic. “They can only soak up so much information before they’re saturated, then they have to dry out a bit.”
The concept of fasting for physical health is well-accepted, so why not apply the same principle to our mental wellbeing?
Journalist Sarah Marshall shares her own experience: “Personally, I’ve spent multiple flights drooling over the on-screen map, fantasising about future travel plans, or staring out of the window on clear days to see snow-capped mountain peaks below. Being on a plane, knowing nobody can reach me for a number of hours is incredibly relaxing. Why spoil that pleasure with a disgusting meal, cheap wine and a sub-standard blockbuster?
“There’s a benefit to creative thinking too. Some of my best ideas have materialised during those long, empty, distraction-free stretches. People pay thousands to therapists for mental health sessions, or for retreats in far-flung Himalayan ashrams.”
“But the same results can arguably be achieved in a metal tube 9,000 metres above the ground, taking you on a journey far beyond the destination typed on your ticket and baggage tags.”
