Sounds silly, right? Since this is a blog I figured I don’t have to be serious ALL the time. But really, I am serious. You could replace Harry Potter with a variety of things; “Twilight”, “Stark Trek”, “iPads”, “Oakland Raiders” – anything that creates passion and allows for group experiences. The experience is similar….utter bliss.
Sure there is a geek/nerd vibe to this, but one cannot doubt the validity of the claim that being a part of a group of people who love something passionately brings happiness and a sense of belonging. Although I personally missed the Harry Potter boat due to the age of my kids, I happily embrace being a Disney Geek, a Twi-Mom, and a Trekkie (or Trekker, depending on who I’m talking to). My biggest experience in expressing my “nerdom” was waiting in line for 3 days for Star Wars tickets back when Ep. 1 came out. There were about 1000 of us in that line, and the group experience was amazing. For 3 days we all felt connected – like we belonged to something bigger.
So how is this related to mental health? There is actual research that shows that fandoms are related to happiness. One study actually compared sports, music, and hobby fandom’s and found that simply being a part of the fandom was associated with positive outcomes, including building self-esteem and having a sense of belonging.
This is not news to those of us who are a part of these groups, but after seeing pictures of the crowds waiting for the midnight premier of Harry Potter, and hearing the comments about people being ‘crazy’, I thought it was worth bringing this up. Can some people go too far and cause a negative impact in their daily life? Sure – when addiction takes over as it sometimes does. If someone is not able to hold a job, goes into massive debt, or becomes truly obsessive, for example, you should be concerned. But waiting in line with a group of like-minded fans for a movie you have waited 20 years for? Not a problem.