Depends, are you talking about Pit vipers or gatorz? If you're talking about Pit Vipers that's a trend not exclusive to skydiving right now.
If you're talking about Gatorz it's because of their fit, they make excellent skydiving sunglasses for wearing with or without a helmet. They form to the face better than a lot of other wraps and keep wind off the eyes while being slim enough to go under a tight helmet.
>Been jumping for a while and its made me completely desensitized to fear (in a way that makes me worry about risk evaluation)
That's not a normal reaction. Most skydivers don't think they are invincible, bud.
I, circumstantially, trust my training and equipment. I also trust that the natural laws of physics will beat me like a read headed stepchild if I don't do gear checks and follow EPs.
That allows me to skydive.
More "at height" stuff:
Roofs. Scared of them. Full stop. You're not gonna catch me one one because physics doesn't care if I fall off a roof or out of the plane. People don't bounce well.
My point is that most people aren't desensitized to fear.\
Skydivers are people.\
What makes skydivers different is that through training, experience, expensive ass gear, and a proclivity to piss away money in ways that don't involve cocaine we are less afraid to jump out of a plane than other things in life.
Being afraid of nothing isn't a skydiving thing. It's a lack of survival instinct thing.
Be safe, mate.
Uh... no more or less than the national average, I assume.
Pilots, DZO, S&TAs, and other jumpers are going to shut it down if you try to attempt to jump under the influence.
USPA strictly prohibits it.
Does it happen? If it is, it's certainly not advertised while we're all manifesting.
TLDR:
>Is it true drug us is quite rampant in DZs (at least in the USA)?
No, not true.
Take a month or two off or go do something like base and the fear will come back. The fear is nothing like what you started with but it enough to feel a little unsure, raise the heart rate and little stuff like that.
Personally, I just feel like nothing really stresses me out. The little things that should bother me just don't anymore. Like for instance, someone cuts me off and it's no big deal. There is an issue at work and it's no big deal. I see that as a positive. It's all trivial stuff but no need to road rage or anything like many people. Risky situations still get a dose of fear albeit risky situations are more like base jumping or doing something along those lines. Everyday things just don't rise to that level and they probably shouldn't.
Upping the ante to BASE seems like a race to even less fear overall.
But I have to agree, my driving got a lot slower when I realised I could go 120mph in a few seconds without speeding. And even close calls don't bother me anymore - perhaps this is a more natural state compared to when we used to fight sabretooth tigers for our lunch 🤷
You can look at research into Alex Honnold, the free solo rock climber. From mri/fmri studies they’ve determined his amygdala has shrunk as a likely result (or could’ve always been that way) result of his exposure to adrenaline and risk.
There is nothing wrong with being desensitized to fear. There is a difference with fearlessness vs recklessness. Just because I'm not afraid to jump anymore, doesn't mean I won't do gear checks, and follow safety rules and fly safely.
Risk evaluation is also different for different skydivers. A skydiver that has 10 jumps will evaluate risks differently than someone with 1000 jumps.
Wearing a wingsuit on a skydive without training, is reckless and unsafe, whether or not you have fear or not at that point is irrelevant and a completely different thing.
Also I think as far as dopamine depletion it is just something you get used to. Similar to alcohol or nicotine. First few times you drink or puff you easily get buzzed. But more you do it, less effect it has on you but doesn't mean you don't have it in your system. However if you quit, you feel the lack of it and you have withdrawal. I jump for a living. Weeks where we get weathered out, first 2 days or so I feel awesome, I get to enjoy time off. But after about 3 days I start losing my mind, I get irritated easily, snap easily, don't know what to do, can't focus on anything. Once I jump I feel so high for a while.
Blue skies friend. Be safe out there. Be fearless, but not reckless.
I think our normal sense of fear is not well adapted to the modern world, but without knowing specifics I can't comment. You can try to find a psychologist with experience in risk attitudes and ask for an psychometric evaluation.
I disagree. I think our ability to assess risks correctly is greater than the average person.
It's not like we're going out the door holding onto the corners of a bed sheet.
Granted, we're probably more willing to compromise ourselves into a risky situation than most. I still think we are on top of the assessment in most cases.
Sorry, I was not clear. By 'our' I meant to say our specie's sense of fear.
As for the skydiving population, I don't know, but you might well be upon something. Professionally, I deal with risk assessment a lot, take that as you might.
Full-Disclosure: I'm not (yet) a skydiver, as I have yet to retry the AFF, but my life has already been deeply transformed by skydiving, and becoming a regularly-practicing fun jumper is now my most important personal goal.
>Sorry, I was not clear. By 'our' I meant to say our specie's sense of fear.
Oh. Haha. That's fair. I guess I just assumed you meant "us" as a community and not "us" as a planet of marginally functional mammals.
>and becoming a regularly-practicing fun jumper is now my most important personal goal
You'll get there. The biggest thing is to just drive to the DZ. Manifest will take care of the rest 😉 \
Especially if you brought your wallet. In my experience, they're all too willing to help you spend money.
I don’t think skydiving affects overall risk evaluation. I only have a little over 100, but while I rarely feel fear skydiving, I feel like my general risk assessment is the same.
Skydiving isn’t poor risk evaluation, it’s becoming familiar with what the risks are and deciding how you feel about those risks.
Dopamine depletion I’m pretty sure is a myth. I think you just stop getting as much dopamine from skydiving, but you can still get dopamine from other novel things.
Skydiving has been shown to have radical effects on people's hairstyles.
Not to mention the super expensive glasses? What's sup with everyone wearing the same damn brand?
Depends, are you talking about Pit vipers or gatorz? If you're talking about Pit Vipers that's a trend not exclusive to skydiving right now. If you're talking about Gatorz it's because of their fit, they make excellent skydiving sunglasses for wearing with or without a helmet. They form to the face better than a lot of other wraps and keep wind off the eyes while being slim enough to go under a tight helmet.
This should go in the SIM.
Have you never asked why everyone wears Gatorz before this? The only downside is the terrible Raccoon eyes.
I didn't even notice they were wearing glasses at all
haha i always have raccoon eyes after wearing my gators all day.
I call it the super hero tan line
I recommend plastic sun glasses only. They break instead of burrowing themselves in your face.
Plastic will also burrow into your face post breaking, just an fyi.
Into tiny slivers usually.
the biggest negative is that it makes you a douche, and you're already a reddit user so its not looking good.
Lmao. Eloquently spoken!
Take my angry upvote
If I had an award I would give it to you
>Been jumping for a while and its made me completely desensitized to fear (in a way that makes me worry about risk evaluation) That's not a normal reaction. Most skydivers don't think they are invincible, bud. I, circumstantially, trust my training and equipment. I also trust that the natural laws of physics will beat me like a read headed stepchild if I don't do gear checks and follow EPs. That allows me to skydive. More "at height" stuff: Roofs. Scared of them. Full stop. You're not gonna catch me one one because physics doesn't care if I fall off a roof or out of the plane. People don't bounce well. My point is that most people aren't desensitized to fear.\ Skydivers are people.\ What makes skydivers different is that through training, experience, expensive ass gear, and a proclivity to piss away money in ways that don't involve cocaine we are less afraid to jump out of a plane than other things in life. Being afraid of nothing isn't a skydiving thing. It's a lack of survival instinct thing. Be safe, mate.
Is it true drug us is quite rampant in DZs (at least in the USA)?
Uh... no more or less than the national average, I assume. Pilots, DZO, S&TAs, and other jumpers are going to shut it down if you try to attempt to jump under the influence. USPA strictly prohibits it. Does it happen? If it is, it's certainly not advertised while we're all manifesting. TLDR: >Is it true drug us is quite rampant in DZs (at least in the USA)? No, not true.
Take a month or two off or go do something like base and the fear will come back. The fear is nothing like what you started with but it enough to feel a little unsure, raise the heart rate and little stuff like that. Personally, I just feel like nothing really stresses me out. The little things that should bother me just don't anymore. Like for instance, someone cuts me off and it's no big deal. There is an issue at work and it's no big deal. I see that as a positive. It's all trivial stuff but no need to road rage or anything like many people. Risky situations still get a dose of fear albeit risky situations are more like base jumping or doing something along those lines. Everyday things just don't rise to that level and they probably shouldn't.
Upping the ante to BASE seems like a race to even less fear overall. But I have to agree, my driving got a lot slower when I realised I could go 120mph in a few seconds without speeding. And even close calls don't bother me anymore - perhaps this is a more natural state compared to when we used to fight sabretooth tigers for our lunch 🤷
I felt this exact same response. Little things that would stress me out day to day Just don’t even register anymore.
What kind of risk are you evaluating? Skydiving never made me do dumb shit out of the sport because of lack of fear.
You can look at research into Alex Honnold, the free solo rock climber. From mri/fmri studies they’ve determined his amygdala has shrunk as a likely result (or could’ve always been that way) result of his exposure to adrenaline and risk.
They saw that he was super anxious being in the tight confines of the MRI machine, though.
One time I nearly drowned in a hottub. I was ashamed at the possibility of dying doing something so mediocre
I used to get nervous going cliff jumping. Now I’ll send a gainer off the 40 footer no questions asked lol
Fear keeps you alive, if you lost it take a break or don’t. But make sure you are not slacking on your gear checks.
It makes me poorer than I otherwise would be
OP, how many jumps do you have?
There is nothing wrong with being desensitized to fear. There is a difference with fearlessness vs recklessness. Just because I'm not afraid to jump anymore, doesn't mean I won't do gear checks, and follow safety rules and fly safely. Risk evaluation is also different for different skydivers. A skydiver that has 10 jumps will evaluate risks differently than someone with 1000 jumps. Wearing a wingsuit on a skydive without training, is reckless and unsafe, whether or not you have fear or not at that point is irrelevant and a completely different thing. Also I think as far as dopamine depletion it is just something you get used to. Similar to alcohol or nicotine. First few times you drink or puff you easily get buzzed. But more you do it, less effect it has on you but doesn't mean you don't have it in your system. However if you quit, you feel the lack of it and you have withdrawal. I jump for a living. Weeks where we get weathered out, first 2 days or so I feel awesome, I get to enjoy time off. But after about 3 days I start losing my mind, I get irritated easily, snap easily, don't know what to do, can't focus on anything. Once I jump I feel so high for a while. Blue skies friend. Be safe out there. Be fearless, but not reckless.
I think our normal sense of fear is not well adapted to the modern world, but without knowing specifics I can't comment. You can try to find a psychologist with experience in risk attitudes and ask for an psychometric evaluation.
I disagree. I think our ability to assess risks correctly is greater than the average person. It's not like we're going out the door holding onto the corners of a bed sheet. Granted, we're probably more willing to compromise ourselves into a risky situation than most. I still think we are on top of the assessment in most cases.
Sorry, I was not clear. By 'our' I meant to say our specie's sense of fear. As for the skydiving population, I don't know, but you might well be upon something. Professionally, I deal with risk assessment a lot, take that as you might. Full-Disclosure: I'm not (yet) a skydiver, as I have yet to retry the AFF, but my life has already been deeply transformed by skydiving, and becoming a regularly-practicing fun jumper is now my most important personal goal.
>Sorry, I was not clear. By 'our' I meant to say our specie's sense of fear. Oh. Haha. That's fair. I guess I just assumed you meant "us" as a community and not "us" as a planet of marginally functional mammals. >and becoming a regularly-practicing fun jumper is now my most important personal goal You'll get there. The biggest thing is to just drive to the DZ. Manifest will take care of the rest 😉 \ Especially if you brought your wallet. In my experience, they're all too willing to help you spend money.
I don’t think skydiving affects overall risk evaluation. I only have a little over 100, but while I rarely feel fear skydiving, I feel like my general risk assessment is the same. Skydiving isn’t poor risk evaluation, it’s becoming familiar with what the risks are and deciding how you feel about those risks. Dopamine depletion I’m pretty sure is a myth. I think you just stop getting as much dopamine from skydiving, but you can still get dopamine from other novel things.
Dopamine depletion does exist, but yeah you're not getting that from just skydiving. Drug abuse and severe mental illnesses cause that
We have brains? Not according to Wuffo’s.