My father’s toxic trait is that he needs to be at the airport 5 hours early. No ifs, ands, or buts. When I was a kid, I thought that was the way it was – that we wouldn’t be able to get our ticket for our midnight flight unless we made it in time to eat lunch at the airport. And, even though I now know that it is in fact NOT illegal to show up for a flight 2 or so hours before, I still wouldn’t dare bring it up to my dad out of fear that his skull would disengage from his C1 vertebrae.
Airports have always been my happy place – and this past break, I realized why that was. Being stuck in long check-in lines, tiny airport coffee shops, and waiting rooms that appear to have made it through war(s, plural), all to end up in a tiny metal box taking to the air for god knows how many hours makes people act in ways they wouldn’t normally. And though this may not always be good (shout out the guy that hit the TSA agent with his personal item), the fact remains that the duress of the airport breaks people down into their bare parts. No more nonchalant phone scrolling in line at the grocery store. No more half smile and avoiding eye contact forever after. No more being calm when people tell you that your belongings got jacked up somehow. In our time at the Barcelona airport, we befriended 2 babies, has a conversation about soccer (or fútbol) with an elderly couple, fought with a middle-aged Botox mom for the bathroom stall, and chatted with a flight attendant who was definitely hitting on my dad. And it’s not just us. Confined spaces, strenuous situations, and total unadulterated chaos are all understandable reasons to seek out human support of any kind. Airport crushes, airport friends, and airport enemies all exist because for some reason, this setting evokes an aura of intimacy. It could be due to the heightened emotions or excitement to the idea of flying, a need for assistance, or the “Wi-Fi” (which is surely just a prank to rage-bait screen-obsessed slackers). “Social disengagement” seems to disappear in this environment.
Social disengagement is the decrease in social interactions which can be due to further advancements in technology and urbanization. Though the original theory relies on aging individuals withdrawing from a social environment, the modernization of technology has led to a broader societal shift where people of all ages engage less with strangers and their communities. Smartphones, self-checkout kiosks, and digital entertainment have made it easier than ever to exist in public spaces without ever truly participating in them. Why strike up a conversation with the person next to you when you can scroll through an endless feed of curated content? Why ask for directions when Google Maps can guide you to your destination without a word exchanged?
But at the airport, something strange happens. The forces that usually keep us disconnected start to crumble under the sheer unpredictability of travel. Delayed flights, confusing gate changes, and the universal struggle of going through TSA create an unspoken camaraderie among passengers. There’s a shared understanding that we’re all in this together, and for a brief moment, social norms shift. A stranger might watch your bag while you run to the restroom. You might share an exhausted smile with the person next to you as the flight delay stretches on. Maybe it’s because we’re all temporarily displaced, existing in this liminal space where time seems to move differently and our usual distractions don’t quite work the same way. Maybe it’s the knowledge that, after this flight, we’ll all scatter back to our respective lives, making any interaction fleeting and consequence-free. Or maybe it’s just that airports, with all their stress and chaos, remind us that sometimes, human connection is the only thing keeping us sane.
Of course, the second you land, it’s back to normal — heads down, headphones in, eyes glued to the phone as we rush to baggage claim. But for a few hours, in the weird in-between world of terminals and security lines, social disengagement loosens its grip.What if we didn’t wait for delays and TSA lines to connect with the people around us? Rather than living as a series of isolated bubbles moving past each other, what if we treated our daily routines like the airport and embrace unpredictability and fleeting human moments waiting to happen? So, next time you’re in line, on a bus, or sitting in a waiting room, act like you’re at the airport. Talk to someone. Smile. Ask a question. Look around and notice the people sharing space with you. Because human connection isn’t just something we stumble into during flight delays — it’s something we choose, every single day.