Imagine the scenario: you’ve boarded an eight-hour flight and buckled up to discover the in-flight entertainment is bust, you’ve forgotten to pre-order a veggie meal and your phone/laptop/tablet has died.
Worse still, it’s a morning departure, so sleeping through the entire journey isn’t even an option.
For most travellers, the idea of spending a lengthy stretch in the air with nothing to do would be recourse for calling mayday. But a new breed of frequent flyers is actively choosing to abstain from any kind of interaction on flights. Known as ‘raw-dogging’, the trend is sweeping through social media faster than a Concorde.
Switch off, zone out
Despite the easily mistakable sexual connotations (no, this isn’t a perverse act of initiation into the mile-high club), there’s nothing remotely stimulating about the activity. Quite the opposite, in fact. Akin to a Buddhist monk slipping into Zen-like meditation, quiet euphoria is achieved by switching off, zoning out and staring into space.
Weirdly, the bizarre behaviour has been linked mainly to men. According to GQ, a 26-year-old Londoner named West kickstarted the idea with a viral post bragging about seven hours of fly-time spent gazing at a seat screen map.
“Anyone else bareback flights?” he wrote. Responding to ‘how to’ calls from intrigued followers, he’s since posted more educational ‘raw flight’ videos, including an empty 21-hour stint from London to Perth.
Ultimate challenge
Some converts claim raw-dogging helps them deal with a fear of flying, others see airborne abstinence as some sort of challenge, channelling the martyrdom of a priest about to enter 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 prescient @KennethAzor posted on X back in 2022.
Others have praised the appreciation of golden silence and gaining enlightenment.
There are medical benefits as well. Doctors have, after all, repeatedly emphasised the importance of letting our minds rest.
“Our brains are like sponges,” claims psychologist Dr. Scott Bea, writing for the Cleveland Clinic. “They can only soak up so much information before they’re saturated, then they have to dry out a bit.”
If fasting is good for the body, why can’t it be beneficial to our minds too?
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?
Free therapy
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 9000 metres above the ground, taking you on a journey far beyond the destination typed on your ticket and baggage tags.
Would you fly long-haul with no entertainment? Why not share your opinion in the comments section below?
Also read: What to do when your plane hits turbulence
– With Sarah Marshall
I have been doing similar for decades. I have seen one movie in that time and became easily bored with the music options. Have read a magazine occasionally, but generally just let the mind drift. Relaxing for sure.
I’m a very nervous flyer! On my first ever 24 hour flight from Sydney to London Heathrow a few years ago, I didn’t even think about trying to watch anything on the plane, I sat and watched our route on the display. It seemed to calm me down and I even had quite a good sleep when I could get it. I did fly in business class, though, so I had my own seat and direct aisle access, so there was no uncomfortable small seats, and no one to disturb me. I did have a craft project to while away the time, too – so relaxing 🙂
The actions by QANTAS are are totally despicable, and and rightly they should be penalised. However I wonder that getting the organisation to pay those affected a refund, and that and a fine on the company is the way to go. By doing this the shareholders are affected, and then the company just increases fares across the board to recover the funds.
Wouldn’t it be better to pay those affected double their loss, but and fine not the company, but the managers and Directors.
By doing this they are taking responsibility for their actions, and it has a personal impact which is likely to stop any future similar action by them or others. As well the Company finances are not so affected, and hence the recovery of the funds through higher prices is unnecessary.