Is Fear of Flying Contagious?
Trapped in a metal tube in the sky, I might be spreading my anxiety to those around me.
I recently got a text message from a friend that read “Can you say something comforting re: flying?” It wasn’t the text itself that was unusual—I knew my friend was en route to Los Angeles that day—but its sender. She was someone who, until about a year ago, wasn’t afraid of flying at all. Someone who, in fact, had served the exact function for me she now wanted me to perform for her: on-demand airplane safety reassurer. I texted my friend a few of the things that usually help calm me: I told her I’d
