Why we love scary stories

Here's a puzzler: why did a game where the aim is to create a virus so deadly it kills the global population before humans can develop a vaccine have the highest number of downloads this year?

That's exactly what happened with Plague Inc, a game you can download on your smartphone - it's a lotta fun, I highly recommend it. This year, downloads went up 120%, despite the game being released way back in 2012. What gives? Well, according to the BBC, we love scary stories because they give us the opportunity to ask ourselves, "what if?"

"People are reaching out to dystopian tales to see what’s next," says Andrea Russworm, an associate professor of English who teaches a class on dystopia in new media at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "The impulse is to see how bad the situation can really get and ask yourself whether you could hypothetically survive that."

Could I survive that? 😅

It’s not just the subject matter that draws people in, it’s the nature of dystopian storytelling that truly captivates audiences during times of crisis, the article explains.

These tales are traditionally told from the viewpoints of inhabitants in ruined societies, which allows people to immerse themselves in the challenges faced by protagonists, says Daniel Davison-Vecchione, a social theorist currently studying for a PhD in sociology at the University of Cambridge.

Take Black Mirror, the award-winning dystopian show on Netflix, says Davison-Vecchione. The stories they tell are about a future that doesn't seem all that far away, and we love being shown a world we might to inhabit so we can make a decision on how we might respond, if that day ever comes. It also has the power to help people rally around common causes.

The Hunger Games has inspired young fans to get involved in social justice campaigns, while women in Argentina, Ireland and the US dressed up as characters from The Handmaid's Tale during 2018 protests against restrictions on reproductive freedoms.

So the next time you poo-poo a scary story, think again.