We love to watch it. Scientists know why

There is no doubt that extreme weather events have increased in both their frequency and the force with which they strike in recent years. Scientists have observed that public interest has also increased. Of course, the development of internet access and social media itself have a significant contribution to this. But why do we spend so much time observing such climate catastrophes?

Not just “staring”

The topic was taken up by a team of researchers from the University of Plymouth. The study focused on live broadcasts of several events – hurricanes Irma in 2017 and Ian in 2022, and hurricanes Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, which passed over Europe in 2022. Both Dudley and Eunice also passed over Poland, causing a lot of damage in our country. In the first case alone, 23 tornadoes were recorded. One of them destroyed a 20-meter-long crane in Krakow.

What did viewers focus on when watching the broadcasts? Thanks to a detailed analysis of the comments, they were divided into several groups. The first group consisted of people directly in the areas affected by severe weather phenomena. There, they mainly exchanged comments on possible evacuation activities. The second group consisted of viewers who had some connection to the region under threat. Here, one could find many comments aimed at supporting those affected by the destruction. At the same time, according to the researchers, this proves that the aforementioned broadcasts related to various disasters on Earth are not used only for simple gawking at spectacular views.

Live streaming, thanks to its specific form of transmission, allows for real-time reactions. The entire collected material used for this analysis lasted a total of 65 hours. It was viewed by over 1.8 million people. About 5 thousand of them left a total of 14,300 comments on the subject. According to the authors of the study, this proves one more thing – the desire to better understand these phenomena and to learn the science that explains them.