Instantly Related On The Drop Tower
I went on one of these things for the first time the other day (at night, from the top, it’s beautiful to see the fairground from high above). It’s been years since I’ve been on a roller-coaster, which I guess is the closest I’ve been to a drop tower, and it was unexpectedly sickening: substantial free fall seems to evoke a very hard wired ‘oh no’ response, which is kind of thrilling but also ‘oh no’.
My friends wouldn’t go on the drop tower with me, so I had strangers on either side, but it was funny how without really even talking to each other, just the process of screaming and yelling together on those long drawn out ‘oh no’ moments seemed to get us really related. I almost felt like after the end of the 2 minute ride I was leaving behind new friends (even though we had barely spoken).
Don’t underestimate the power of extreme experiences to create relatedness; for better or for worse :) Thrill rides are the perfect demonstrators for this I guess.
