Smash Rooms: Therapy or Pure Chaos? The Unstoppable Joy of Breaking Things
If you’ve ever looked at a fragile item and thought, “Throwing this against a wall would feel really good right now,” you’ll be happy to know there’s a safe, yet still pretty chaotic way to let your intrusive thoughts win. Let us present to you: the smash room.
What exactly is a smash room?
A smash room, also called a rage room, is an entertainment venue designed to provide a safe space for people to destroy everyday items as a fun way to release emotions and stress. The typical smash room experience involves receiving protective gear, a quick safety run-down, and of course, a room stocked with breakable items and your weapon of choice.
Common items found in a smash room include dishware, electronics, furniture, and other breakable household items, giving participants a wide range of things to smash to their heart’s desire.
Is there really a therapeutic benefit to breaking things?
Now, if you’re visiting a smash room hoping to solve chronic anger problems, don’t get your hopes up. Smash rooms aren’t meant to replace professional mental health care — they’re recreational spaces designed to provide temporary catharsis, not long-term relief. However, this isn’t to say smash rooms don’t offer stress-relieving benefits.
Here are a few reasons avid rage room goers advocate for the activity:
- Smash rooms offer a safe and freeing way to release pent-up emotions. Come on. If you want to let go of some frustrations and stress, the act of smashing things has to feel good. In a smash room, you can rage all you’d like and feel secure knowing you’re in a controlled environment.
- They act as a “judgement-free” zone to feel negative feelings. The whole point of a smash room is to let loose. You’re encouraged to let go of tension and stress without the fear of being looked at funny. Here, we all rage.
- Raging out can empower you to move forward and let go. If a release is what you’re looking for, the act of destruction can help you shed some anger and make it easier to move forward with a clear mind.
The case for pure chaos
While there’s no conclusive evidence proving the therapeutic benefits of smash rooms, perhaps their appeal lies in the freedom they offer. Maybe it’s not about solving all of your deep-rooted issues, but simply embracing the chaos of letting loose for a little while.
You could leave the experience with a brand new perspective on life, or maybe, you leave just feeling a little better that you were able to scream and express your emotions without judgement. Either way, sometimes, the joy of pure chaos is reason enough to give something a try.
Finding middle ground
Venting in a way that doesn’t harm yourself or others is always a healthy choice in our book, even if that looks like smashing vases with a hammer in a room somewhere. The fact is, life is stressful, and avoiding that reality isn’t possible. So if people want to let off some steam in a smash room, our verdict is, who can blame them?
