We regret to inform you that there’s another semi-ironic and potentially harmful TikTok trend that’s taking the internet by storm: “raw-dogging” a flight.
It’s the ultimate act of ponderous, self-flagellating stoicism: instead of doing the normal things people do to kill time on a miserable, long-haul flight, you tough it out by doing… nothing.
Sit up straight, don’t eat the complimentary peanuts or the frozen dinners, and don’t watch a movie on the in-flight entertainment system or on one of your devices. Hell, don’t even go to the bathroom or drink water. Be a man. Because all you need is discipline, grit — and maybe the in-flight map, which is apparently sacrosanct in the world of aerial raw-dogging.
According to doctors, who are universally bewildered by the trend, this is a very bad idea.
“They’re idiots,” general practitioner Gill Jenkins told BBC. “A digital detox might do you some good, but all the rest of it is against medical advice.”
“I really have no idea why anyone would do it,” Gin Lalli, a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety, stress, and depression, told Fortune. “You’re better off sleeping than raw-dogging.”
And yet, people are doing it. Or they’re at least pretending to. Soccer star and Manchester City striker Erling Haaland — who aficionados of the sport frequently joke is a robot — was one such celebrity to popularize the trend, jokingly or not.
“Just raw-dogged a seven hour flight,” he posted in an Instagram story, vacantly staring at the seat in front of him. “No phone, no sleep, no water, no food, only map. #easy.”
And, okay: this probably isn’t a thing that people actually do. But it’s undeniably become popular to joke about doing (or attempting), and we wouldn’t rule out impressionable kids or pseudo-stoics giving it a shot for real.
“If you’re not moving you’re at risk of deep vein thrombosis, which is compounded by dehydration,” Jenkins told BBC. “Not going to the toilet, that’s a bit stupid. If you need the loo, you need the loo.”
However, if you’re not insane about it, raw-dogging — in severe moderation — could be beneficial for our device-addled brains.
“Not having access to emails or the ability to ‘check in’ means that we can create the space to engage our minds in thinking about other activities and people,” Sophie Mort, a clinical psychologist at Headspace, told Fortune. “When we grant ourselves the space to switch off, it offers an opportunity to focus on what genuinely makes us happy.”
“So switching off — even if just when you are traveling — can be just the ticket when it comes to protecting our mental state,” she added.
In short, it’s fine to allow yourself a worldly pleasure or two when you’re flying the red-eye in your cramped economy seat.
