Walls do so much for us. And what do they get in return? Punched. After all, writes Keith Collins at Quartz, "Walls are big, they’re imposing, and they’re almost always nearby." Collins queried the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, which keeps tabs on annual emergency room visits, to find out more about wall punchers. Some of the major findings:
- More than 1,200 people were treated for wall punching-related injuries in 2014.
- Of them, 15-year-olds are most prone to punching walls.
- Men punch walls more than women (931 vs. 316 in 2014).
- Wall punching is consistent through out the year.
Motives for wall punching range from anger, such as the teen angry that he couldn't see his girlfriend, and intoxication, such as the 25-year-old man who guzzled some brandy and tequila.
A Reddit thread sheds more light on anger-pain-shame cycle of punching a wall: The rage is "blinding, like you literally can't see," writes one. Upon hitting the wall, the rage turns into "extreme pain, "followed by a little shame and embarrassment." Modernman.com offers a primer for wall punching, calling the practice "totally immature," yet "totally satisfying." One important tip: Don't punch a pre-1946 wall—lathe and plaster, after all, just doesn't break like drywall. Walls aren't the only inanimate object people punch, Collins notes, just the top one. His research found that people went to the emergency room in 2014 for punching windows, doors, dumpsters, lamps, paper towel holders, and a thermostat, among many other objects. Check out the data here. (More anger management stories.)
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