Now We Know Why We Like Watching Climate Disaster Videos

Why are we so drawn to videos depicting natural disasters? Is it simply curiosity or an interest in the terrible? A new study has come to unexpected conclusions.

Videos showing river floods, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, or avalanches are some of the most popular types of content on Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms. Why are we so drawn to images of natural disasters? It seems terrifying to watch them, and still somehow we strive to watch them.

An interesting experiment was recently conducted. A team of internet researchers analyzed user comments on 486,000 TikTok videos depicting major disasters. In total, they studied 65 hours of video recordings, accompanied by 14,300 comments. The researchers focused specifically on three major natural disasters: Hurricane Irma in 2017, Hurricane Ian in 2022, and Hurricanes Dudley, Eunice, and Franklin in 2022.

As a result, they had to reject the notion that the feeling we experience when we see these misfortunes is purely a feeling of malicious joy at the misfortunes of others or simple curiosity. "You might assume that this is just a form of online gaming and that people are naturally attracted to spectacular views," said one of the study's participants. However, processing and analyzing the comments led them to a conclusion they did not initially expect. They found that many comments contained discussions about strategies to follow in the event of a natural disaster, as well as opinions on measures taken for rescue, evacuation of dangerous areas, or other emergency actions. Thus, they concluded that our attention to disasters stems from a survival instinct, which forces us to look for possible paths of salvation and to predict possible disasters and emergencies.

According to the study participants, viewing images of natural disasters mentally prepares us for a possible emergency situation: "Images become a cue that people use (...) to understand how they can share experiences of similar events. This is a fascinating insight into human behavior that has so far remained unexplored," the researchers highlighted. Quite surprising, right? But this is how the human mind works: we try to think about difficult situations beforehand to see all the possible ways to deal with them if they happen one day.