Scientists try to figure out why we love watching disasters [Video]

As we head into what is expected to be an active Atlantic hurricane season, a group of researchers has released a study looking into why people are drawn to watch live streams of natural disasters.

“Extreme weather events such as hurricanes and storms have increased in both frequency and severity in recent years,” said a press release from the University of Plymouth in the U.K. “With that has come heightened public interest, resulting in often dramatic footage being live-streamed on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Discord.”

Scientists from the university sought to analyze what motivates people to watch the streams, at times for up to 12 hours. Their research – focused on Hurricane Irma in 2017, Hurricane Ian in 2022, as well as Storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin in 2022 – was recently published in the Environmental Hazards journal.

Overall, the study covered nine live-streams that broadcast a total of 65 hours of video footage watched by more than 1.8 million people. It also covered 14,300 …