{"id":17149,"date":"2026-04-29T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/?p=17149"},"modified":"2026-04-28T14:47:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T12:47:32","slug":"true-crime-podcasts-are-addictive-but-are-they-harmful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holistic.news\/en\/true-crime-podcasts-are-addictive-but-are-they-harmful\/","title":{"rendered":"We like listening to crime. It has a surprising side effect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fascination with crime: now a mass phenomenon<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The popularity of true crime podcasts around the world is growing at a staggering pace. Millions of listeners immerse themselves each week in stories of real murders, kidnappings, and unsolved cases. On television and streaming platforms, true crime narratives break popularity records.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More and more readers are also turning to books\u2014for example, the work of Jan Go\u0142\u0119biowski, a well-known Polish criminal profiler who reveals what crime looks like from the perspective of someone who professionally \u201centers the mind\u201d of the perpetrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why are crime stories so compelling?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stories about real crimes<\/a> combine several powerful magnets: emotion, mystery, and the sense that we are encountering \u201craw\u201d reality. It is adrenaline without real risk.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can experience fear and tension while sitting calmly on the couch with a cup of coffee, as a narrator carefully dissects another case from years ago. For many listeners, true crime podcasts offer an illusion of control and a lesson in survival.<\/strong> By analysing the mistakes of victims and the actions of perpetrators, we feel that we would have acted differently<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some listeners seek empathy for victims<\/strong> or a release of tension through confronting the worst aspects of reality. Others are drawn by curiosity about psychological mechanisms<\/strong>. They want to understand how someone \u201cordinary\u201d crosses the line, what happens in the relationship between victim and perpetrator, and why systems sometimes fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a cognitive layer. Well-crafted true crime podcasts and crime books teach critical thinking<\/strong>: distinguishing fact from speculation, following narrative threads, identifying inconsistencies in alibis or testimonies. It is a form of analytical training that can prove useful in work, everyday decisions, and the evaluation of information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do true crime podcasts encourage crime?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The growing popularity of true crime podcasts raises an important question: at what point do these stories stop being a reflection on evil and begin to aestheticise violence or romanticise perpetrators<\/strong>? If a criminal is portrayed as a charismatic antihero while victims fade into the background, does the risk of desensitisation increase? And ultimately\u2014do true crime stories influence the kind of creativity that could be used to harm others?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers addressed this question in a study published in The Journal of Creative Behavior<\/em>. They were interested not only in whether participants could imagine harmful actions<\/strong>, but also in how original, unpredictable, and \u201cclever\u201d those ideas might be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a series of experiments, participants completed tasks such as inventing scenarios of revenge or harmful actions toward others. Independent judges evaluated their responses based on three criteria: the number of ideas, their harmfulness, and their originality. The results were then compared with how frequently participants engaged with stories of real violence, as well as with their general level of creativity and tendency toward aggression<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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