6 ms·

social contaigon is a weird, weird thing. I have always understood /r/trypophobia to be a deep in-joke, and the earliest i can find reference to the idea at al

social contaigon is a weird, weird thing. I have always understood /r/trypophobia to be a deep in-joke, and the earliest i can find reference to the idea at all is 2005: https://web.archive.org/web/20090316071914/http://www.geocities.com/holephobia/trypophobia.html https://web.archive.org/web/20090316071914/http://www.geocit... and that smells tongue-in-cheek too.

kstrauser 7y ago
I don't think it's just that, though. I'd never heard of it, or the concept of it, when I first saw one of those "doctors hate this weird trick for getting rid of parasites" or whatever ads. It had a photoshop of some kind of a seed pod onto human skin, so it looked like a bunch of worm heads inside holes or something. I almost threw up the instant I looked at it. I later found out that lots of people have that reaction, and it had a name. I think sometimes just naming something gives it life, because then it's an actual thing that people can identify with or not. I'm sure there are lots of phobias or... I dunno, triggers?... that would affect me but I've never experienced or heard of them before so I have no awareness of them. A name might give me that awareness. But yes, it's a weird, weird thing. No one ever talked about being afraid of clowns when I was a kid. Lots of people liked them, lots were indifferent, but I don't recall ever hearing anyone say they were frightened of them until much later in life. And I clearly remember the first time I heard of anyone disliking the word "moist", and thinking I was being trolled.
- nsxwolf 7y ago
  I was about to comment about the "moist" thing but you beat me to it. It's a very recent phenomenon and makes absolutely no sense. But I remember having the same sickened reaction to that lotus seed pod photo.
- ansible 7y ago
  I definitely had a mild reaction to that sort of image, long, long before it was discussed anywhere. My first instance, as a teenager, was where I had found a lump of play-doh, and (for whatever reason) jabbed it repeatedly with a pencil. I was then disgusted by what I had created. My second early incident was seeing the cover of the O'Reilly book "Windows Annoyances", which features an image of a Surinam toad with young embedded on its back. Yes, I wasn't a fan of Windows at the time, but I couldn't imagine what the editors were thinking when they chose that cover image.
  - alistairSH 7y ago
    Wow, I hadn’t heard of the Surinam toad. That’s so weird and a little creepy.
- Buttons840 7y ago
  I agree that trypophobia is more than just a social contagion. I personally had physical reactions of disgust and an unusual desire to destroy Lotus seed pods the first time I saw them. I wanted to put them on the cement and smash and grind them with my shoe until they were a fine paste. This was before I had ever heard the word "trypophobia". The only thing in nature I've found to trigger me is Lotus seed pods. Unlike your example of the doctored images, there is nothing objectively gross about seed pods, they are a natural part of a healthy and harmless plant. Call it morbid curiosity, but I will sometimes browse /r/trypophobia and I get the same feelings there, but never worse than simply viewing a seed pod.
  - nneonneo 7y ago
    FWIW, lotus seeds can be eaten straight out of the pod; I spent many a summer peeling apart the pods and eating the seeds as a kid. Maybe that’s why I don’t have trypophobia? I see those pictures and just think about the tasty seeds inside...
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    > Lotus seed pods Should've read the rest of your comment before googling that. I didn't expect as strong a reaction as I just had upon seeing those. Deeply unsettling.
    - booleandilemma 7y ago
      I’m curious to Google it and at the same time afraid...
      - Buttons840 7y ago
        Don't be afraid. It is a plant. A green-leaf garden variety plant. The seed pod is harmless, even if its shape is unsettling.
    - scruple 7y ago
      The small, oval shaped lakes that you can find littering satellite imagery of northern Siberia, northern Alaska, etc... Those are where I first discovered that these sorts of pictures induce anxiety in me and that there's even a name for it. Unsettling is a good word to describe the feeling it elicits.
- toomanybeersies 7y ago
  If it's the picture I'm thinking of, it's actually a photo of a girls knees after she was made to kneel on frozen peas as a punishment. If you Google "Kneeling On Frozen Peas" you can find articles about it.
  - hnick 7y ago
    Is that the picture with a few peas still attached? I think that's the bit that really brings it home, without that it wouldn't effect me at all.
  - kstrauser 7y ago
    No, that’s not the one. This was definitely shopped to depict occupied holes in a person.
    - corobo 7y ago
      I remember my first experience with the fear of holes in things being a lotus seed pod shopped onto a boob, with the claim it was an infection or parasite of some sort
      - kstrauser 7y ago
        That’s it! That’s the one. And I am absolutely not googling it to verify.
ramenmeal 7y ago
It's not a joke for me! Google image searching "trypophobia" is terrifying!
- ultrarunner 7y ago
  I used DuckDuckGo, but a lot of that seems intentionally disturbing rather than coincidentally so. Graphic depictions of skin conditions can be difficult to not empathize with. There is certainly room for someone else's reaction to be an extreme magnification of mine, but "terrifying" seems so subjective already I have a hard time ruling out a big joke on that basis alone.
  - tokai 7y ago
    Yeah, it sounds a little like having a gore-phobia. It's supposed to freak people out.
  - ryanmcbride 7y ago
    I get grossed out if I look at strawberries too closely because I think of the seeds as little clogged pores and it freaks me out. https://image.freepik.com/free-photo/strawberry-close-up_61-1550.jpg https://image.freepik.com/free-photo/strawberry-close-up_61-... I wouldn't call it a phobia but I get a very real reaction from it.
philwelch 7y ago
I don't think I have it to the degree that it's a "phobia", but I find a lot of trypophobia images really creepy/gross/frightening. Basically the same reaction I have to arthopods. I also have had a history, prior to being exposed to the concept of trypophobia, of body-horror nightmares where lots of tiny holes open up in my skin around my joints, so yeah, it's probably one of those common fears.
- wruza 7y ago
  Oh, that nightmare when you stress your muscles and they rip into holes. I also had it, and it was weird, not terrifying.
  - lowercased 7y ago
    well... thank you very much. 3 am - can't sleep... now I'm terrified of even trying as I've never had that nightmare but it's now stuck in my head... :/
maxander 7y ago
It's definitely a real thing. I don't have it badly, but when I learned about tryptophobia it was satisfying to know why lotus seed pods had always made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. (Google that only if you're reasonably confident you're not a tryptophobe. :) )
ryanmcbride 7y ago
When I was a little kid I was terrified of coral because of the little holes. I definitely wouldn't say I have a phobia but images of things with lots of holes makes my skin crawl.
- saiya-jin 7y ago
  well thank you for ruining coral diving for me, one of most wonderful experiences in life... more seriously though, it seems strange that a lot of things I wouldn't notice at all unless there was some really bad trigger, like photoshopped trypto images and then I start noticing this pattern more (especially if there is something sticking out of those holes...) bee/wasp honey combs with their younglings, anybody?
dliff 7y ago
I experienced this long before I ever saw it on the internet. For me it's especially bad if there is a hole and something small is stuck in it. Even as I type this I remember a specific object I used to see often and I feel my face flush. It's a strangely uncomfortable experience that I can physically feel in my "bones" as they say. I wouldn't say it's a phobia in the sense that I am afraid of it, and I don't often experience it, but it's quite disturbing. An eerie, undefinable discomfort.
oarabbus_ 7y ago
You're utterly off. It evokes a strong reaction of disgust and horror in many people.
elliekelly 7y ago
I remember seeing a PostSecret about it (but not referencing trypophobia by name) when I was in college ~2008.

kstrauser 7y ago

I don't think it's just that, though. I'd never heard of it, or the concept of it, when I first saw one of those "doctors hate this weird trick for getting rid of parasites" or whatever ads. It had a photoshop of some kind of a seed pod onto human skin, so it looked like a bunch of worm heads inside holes or something. I almost threw up the instant I looked at it. I later found out that lots of people have that reaction, and it had a name. I think sometimes just naming something gives it life, because then it's an actual thing that people can identify with or not. I'm sure there are lots of phobias or... I dunno, triggers?... that would affect me but I've never experienced or heard of them before so I have no awareness of them. A name might give me that awareness. But yes, it's a weird, weird thing. No one ever talked about being afraid of clowns when I was a kid. Lots of people liked them, lots were indifferent, but I don't recall ever hearing anyone say they were frightened of them until much later in life. And I clearly remember the first time I heard of anyone disliking the word "moist", and thinking I was being trolled.

nsxwolf 7y ago
I was about to comment about the "moist" thing but you beat me to it. It's a very recent phenomenon and makes absolutely no sense. But I remember having the same sickened reaction to that lotus seed pod photo.
ansible 7y ago
I definitely had a mild reaction to that sort of image, long, long before it was discussed anywhere. My first instance, as a teenager, was where I had found a lump of play-doh, and (for whatever reason) jabbed it repeatedly with a pencil. I was then disgusted by what I had created. My second early incident was seeing the cover of the O'Reilly book "Windows Annoyances", which features an image of a Surinam toad with young embedded on its back. Yes, I wasn't a fan of Windows at the time, but I couldn't imagine what the editors were thinking when they chose that cover image.
- alistairSH 7y ago
  Wow, I hadn’t heard of the Surinam toad. That’s so weird and a little creepy.
Buttons840 7y ago
I agree that trypophobia is more than just a social contagion. I personally had physical reactions of disgust and an unusual desire to destroy Lotus seed pods the first time I saw them. I wanted to put them on the cement and smash and grind them with my shoe until they were a fine paste. This was before I had ever heard the word "trypophobia". The only thing in nature I've found to trigger me is Lotus seed pods. Unlike your example of the doctored images, there is nothing objectively gross about seed pods, they are a natural part of a healthy and harmless plant. Call it morbid curiosity, but I will sometimes browse /r/trypophobia and I get the same feelings there, but never worse than simply viewing a seed pod.
- nneonneo 7y ago
  FWIW, lotus seeds can be eaten straight out of the pod; I spent many a summer peeling apart the pods and eating the seeds as a kid. Maybe that’s why I don’t have trypophobia? I see those pictures and just think about the tasty seeds inside...
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  > Lotus seed pods Should've read the rest of your comment before googling that. I didn't expect as strong a reaction as I just had upon seeing those. Deeply unsettling.
  - booleandilemma 7y ago
    I’m curious to Google it and at the same time afraid...
    - Buttons840 7y ago
      Don't be afraid. It is a plant. A green-leaf garden variety plant. The seed pod is harmless, even if its shape is unsettling.
  - scruple 7y ago
    The small, oval shaped lakes that you can find littering satellite imagery of northern Siberia, northern Alaska, etc... Those are where I first discovered that these sorts of pictures induce anxiety in me and that there's even a name for it. Unsettling is a good word to describe the feeling it elicits.
toomanybeersies 7y ago
If it's the picture I'm thinking of, it's actually a photo of a girls knees after she was made to kneel on frozen peas as a punishment. If you Google "Kneeling On Frozen Peas" you can find articles about it.
- hnick 7y ago
  Is that the picture with a few peas still attached? I think that's the bit that really brings it home, without that it wouldn't effect me at all.
- kstrauser 7y ago
  No, that’s not the one. This was definitely shopped to depict occupied holes in a person.
  - corobo 7y ago
    I remember my first experience with the fear of holes in things being a lotus seed pod shopped onto a boob, with the claim it was an infection or parasite of some sort
    - kstrauser 7y ago
      That’s it! That’s the one. And I am absolutely not googling it to verify.

ramenmeal 7y ago

It's not a joke for me! Google image searching "trypophobia" is terrifying!

ultrarunner 7y ago
I used DuckDuckGo, but a lot of that seems intentionally disturbing rather than coincidentally so. Graphic depictions of skin conditions can be difficult to not empathize with. There is certainly room for someone else's reaction to be an extreme magnification of mine, but "terrifying" seems so subjective already I have a hard time ruling out a big joke on that basis alone.
- tokai 7y ago
  Yeah, it sounds a little like having a gore-phobia. It's supposed to freak people out.
- ryanmcbride 7y ago
  I get grossed out if I look at strawberries too closely because I think of the seeds as little clogged pores and it freaks me out. https://image.freepik.com/free-photo/strawberry-close-up_61-1550.jpg https://image.freepik.com/free-photo/strawberry-close-up_61-... I wouldn't call it a phobia but I get a very real reaction from it.

philwelch 7y ago

I don't think I have it to the degree that it's a "phobia", but I find a lot of trypophobia images really creepy/gross/frightening. Basically the same reaction I have to arthopods. I also have had a history, prior to being exposed to the concept of trypophobia, of body-horror nightmares where lots of tiny holes open up in my skin around my joints, so yeah, it's probably one of those common fears.

wruza 7y ago
Oh, that nightmare when you stress your muscles and they rip into holes. I also had it, and it was weird, not terrifying.
- lowercased 7y ago
  well... thank you very much. 3 am - can't sleep... now I'm terrified of even trying as I've never had that nightmare but it's now stuck in my head... :/

maxander 7y ago

It's definitely a real thing. I don't have it badly, but when I learned about tryptophobia it was satisfying to know why lotus seed pods had always made me feel somewhat uncomfortable. (Google that only if you're reasonably confident you're not a tryptophobe. :) )

ryanmcbride 7y ago

When I was a little kid I was terrified of coral because of the little holes. I definitely wouldn't say I have a phobia but images of things with lots of holes makes my skin crawl.

saiya-jin 7y ago
well thank you for ruining coral diving for me, one of most wonderful experiences in life... more seriously though, it seems strange that a lot of things I wouldn't notice at all unless there was some really bad trigger, like photoshopped trypto images and then I start noticing this pattern more (especially if there is something sticking out of those holes...) bee/wasp honey combs with their younglings, anybody?

dliff 7y ago

I experienced this long before I ever saw it on the internet. For me it's especially bad if there is a hole and something small is stuck in it. Even as I type this I remember a specific object I used to see often and I feel my face flush. It's a strangely uncomfortable experience that I can physically feel in my "bones" as they say. I wouldn't say it's a phobia in the sense that I am afraid of it, and I don't often experience it, but it's quite disturbing. An eerie, undefinable discomfort.

oarabbus_ 7y ago

You're utterly off. It evokes a strong reaction of disgust and horror in many people.

elliekelly 7y ago

I remember seeing a PostSecret about it (but not referencing trypophobia by name) when I was in college ~2008.