What does ‘rawdogging’ a flight say about you? Psychologist reveals why people do it and what it means about their personality

A psychologist has revealed what rawdogging (traveling without distractions) says about your personality and why the ‘silent meditation retreat in the sky’ is a place where people can contemplate their problems.

Los Angeles-based Dr. Ramani Durvasula is a clinical psychologist and author of the “transformative guide” titled It’s Not You, in which she details emotional abuse.

The 59-year-old woman has previously shown how to spot a narcissist, but now also shares her insights on the latest travel trend that sees passengers spending their time in bizarre ways.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Dr Ramani admitted the TikTok trend is a form of ‘aesthetic’ flying and explained why rawdogging can leave you feeling exhausted.

She explained that someone who rawdogs may be a “mental introspector” — a person who is “trained” from an early age to “switch off.”

The practice, known as “rawdogging” or sometimes “barebacking,” involves not consuming any music, movies or other forms of entertainment other than the basic flight maps or flight data displays on your seatback.

Taking it even further, some claim to not eat or drink anything during the trip.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, the psychologist revealed who rawdogs most often and why they do it.

The psychologist told DailyMail.com: ‘The reason is actually quite unclear – at one time it was possible for many people to do rawdogged flights. There were no entertainment options – just a film playing on an overhead screen – whether you liked it or not, and if you fell asleep you missed it. You could take a book or a magazine with you – but that was it (my mother, grandmother and former mother-in-law were all world-class rawdoggers, I see that now – I didn’t know there was a name for it).’

However, she noted that younger generations may do this for other reasons, such as when thinking about a problem in their lives.

‘I suspect the reason someone rawdogs could be: poor preparation, exhaustion, some other emotional reason (something in their head that prevents them from concentrating), being content with what’s going on around them, perhaps being an inexperienced flyer who takes it all in, perhaps being a nervous flyer, perhaps just being someone who practices extreme mindfulness, perhaps someone who uses the time in flight to clear their head if they’re not reachable, perhaps someone who just wants to be calm (someone needs to do a survey of rawdoggers someday).

‘Now that it’s a TikTok trend, people might do it to post about it. That’s a whole different thing. It’s a bit aesthetic: sitting up, no food, no drink, no entertainment, no reading. It’s like a silent meditation retreat in the sky.’

“The ban on drinking and eating is actually quite clever: if you have a window or middle seat and the seat belt light is on and off, you don’t have to go to the toilet, which is a godsend,” she added.

She noticed that in addition to the older generation who did rawdogging flights, those who struggled also tended to sit back and do nothing while traveling.

Dr. Ramani explains, “I would say it might be older adults who flew at a time when rawdogging was the norm, or people who flew basic economy or some other no-frills type of flight where you’re not allowed to take anything on the plane, people who are exhausted and overwhelmed by their lives, people who are good at or tend to wander in general.”

And according to the expert, sitting still during a flight has a lot to do with your personality.

She told DailyMail.com: ‘Some of the most likely reasons could be: tired, exhausted, mentally introspective, someone who has been in situations in their life (e.g. being forced to go to long church services repeatedly) that have almost trained them to sit there and switch off, with nothing else to do, someone who may be in a new situation where they are taking in a lot.

“The people who do performative rawdogging to say they’ve done it and post about it might just be people doing things to post about it. I think that’s different from ‘pure’ non-performative rawdogging.”

And you might wonder what someone is thinking on a long flight. According to Dr. Ramani, it can be a number of things.

However, it is more likely that a person thinks too much about the problems in his or her life.

The psychologist explains: ‘They can think about anything from nothing at all to worrying about all sorts of things in their lives, to noticing what’s happening during the flight.

‘Perhaps some are meditating or doing some kind of mental exercise or breathing exercises.’

But this bizarre trend may actually be good for your mental health, as it can benefit your mind.

“It could be a kind of handy built-in experience where you don’t have to do anything else and you can clear your mind,” Dr Ramani told DailyMail.com.

“The white noise part really helps with that, and it can be frustrating sometimes to ‘do’ other things, like working on a laptop with someone’s chair in your lap. So rawdogging can give you a chance to really think quietly and not just distract yourself from your thoughts or try to do impossible things, like working in a cramped chair by the window.”

And while meditating in the air may seem like the perfect way to pass the time, people who don’t practice mindfulness while rawdogging may be doing more harm than good.

Dr. Ramani adds: ‘Some people procrastinate, for example, a busy student who is traveling may finish homework or assignments, or a business traveler may finish some work so he or she can go to bed when he or she arrives at their destination.

‘If someone is going through a difficult time and they’re worrying about it all the time, and it’s distracting them or making them feel worse, then that worrying thought may be staying with the worrying, which can end up being very uncomfortable.’

The psychologist also revealed that rawdogging may only be a trending topic on social media now, but it has been practiced for a long time. In the past, women were the most likely candidates.

She told DailyMail.com: ‘I have to say the people I know who did rawdogged were mainly women – and I wonder if for the women I know it was just a moment of reflection – they were all mothers and housewives at a time when no one cared what they felt or said.

‘[It was] a time [for them] Just sitting, thinking, not thinking, but without any expectation of care or doing anything – could be the origin of rawdogging for some.

“Some people are better at just being and waiting patiently – and those are the people who seem to be made for rawdogging.”

Last week, dozens of videos of social media users doing rawdogging flights appeared on TikTok to share their experiences.

Many clips showed travelers staring blankly into space, while overlapping captions boasted of completing the challenge.

Another TikToker who calls himself @westwashereuploaded several TikToks showing him barebacking.

He challenged other people on the web to do the same, sharing how he ‘survived’ long flights by just looking at the map and wind speed.

Creator @cookestraveltok revealed that her mother was also a fan of rawdogging.

In a clip of her parent rawdogging a flight, she says, “My mom’s pet peeve is that she rawdogs every flight, no matter how long it is.

“This is her on a nine-hour flight. No iPad. No headphones. No book. At least she’s comfortable! Go Girl.”

Many people on the web were bewildered and claimed they would never be able to take part in the challenge.