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Comment by Rotdhizon | Hacker News Reader

I'd think it'd be a disaster if those screens were to malfunction mid-flight and all of the sudden people realized they were in a box with no way to see out. I'm sure that would cause at least one person per flight to have a panic/anxiety attack. It's similar to walking with your eyes closed, you start to panic after a few seconds because you can't see where you're going and lose your sense of positioning/direction/balance. I hate flying, I don't think I could manage to make it on a plane with no windows at all.

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And yet, millions of people are able to handle tunnels everyday without incident.

Metro lines don't tend to have much visible outside them (if anything at all save for some flashing lights), and there are extended scenarios like the Channel Tunnel where passengers basically don't see anything for over 30 minutes.

if the tunnel was a tin can 3,000+ meters in the sky thats a different story

Only in the mind, and I think the large majority of people wouldn't care much for the difference.

Just make sure they can plug into Facebook/Instagram/YouTube/Social Media of choice and quite literally most people wouldn't care in the slightest.

That's not to say the negative reaction of a small minority wouldn't be vastly increased, but I think the masses would still be perfectly fine.

> That's not to say the negative reaction of a small minority wouldn't be vastly increased

The main problem I see with this is that both the small minority and the large majority are locked together inside a tin can speeding through the stratosphere. I'd rather not find out how fast panic might propagate under such conditions.

> Only in the mind

You say that like there's anywhere else that it matters

Claustrophobia of the feet; that's why I wear sandals.

People also do OK in movie theaters, etc.

Movie theaters are huge space. Jets are a small space. And I don't have to be in a movie theater for 13 hours straight.

Ok for security reasons or the odd claustrophobic person keep two windows just in case and keep 99% of benefits .

The dimly lit walkway adjacent the track gives assurance an escape is available.

On a lot of metros (eg. the deep tunnels in London) this isn't a thing. Doesn't seem to matter.

I know a couple of claustrophobic people. It "doesn't matter" because they wouldn't be caught dead in such a location. If it's OK not to have these people on planes (and maybe when everything is accounted it is OK), you're right.

If they're claustrophobic enough to the point where they can't even be in that position, then how can they handle a plane as it stands, even with windows? It's not like you can break the window in case of emergencies, and if anything, it's reinforcing the fact that you're 30k feet in the air in a tiny sealed box.

I'm not claustrophobic, so I can't explain exactly, but I think the evidence of altitude actually counteracts this effect, rather than compounding it as you suggest. In general, we wouldn't expect psychological maladies to present in reasonable ways.

Put a window under your plane seat perhaps? /s

30 minutes is doable. Emirates has 16+ hour long haul flights.

As a guy who gets anxiety on planes, it's because of the claustrophobia. In a tunnel, I am moving freely. In a plane, I'm stuck inside the plane for the duration of the flight, and I can barely move given the only moving you can do is to the lavatory and back.

Eh, I hate flying and I have a ton of anxiety. But when I'm on a train in a tunnel, theoretically I can't see anything and it doesn't bother me too much.

There's a big difference between being on a train in a tunnel and being in a plane several thousand feet in the air.

I am acutely aware of that difference- however, both scenarios are enclosed tubes.

And your brain is wholly enclosed in a sphere anyway, which itself is part in your body, so you kind of spend your whole life encased in a tube with no way out! Thus, rationally proving that claustrophobia is a myth and anyone claiming to suffer from it is no more credible than a flat-earther!

yes this is sarcasm

I literally suffer from claustrophobia and agoraphobia you sarcastic nitwit

I'm trying to explain to you that a window with some clouds does not alleviate my claustrophobia. So, whether the windows are virtual or not make no difference to me, even if one malfunctions...

Jesus

In a train tunnel you could be suddenly be crushed by rock or water. You have time to contemplate your fate in a plane.

The train has window. In my experience tunnels are always lit a little bit and you can see the wall passing by. Also it's rare to stay in a tunnel for more than a few minutes.

Which is funny because I don't think I have a ton of anxiety but this was exactly what I was thinking. I was once stuck for a bit on a NYC Subway and I found it deeply deeply unsettling.

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