Texas rage room is so 2022, but it won’t solve our current problems

There’s a place opening in Frisco, Texas, where people are invited to really let go and unleash their anger. No, it isn’t Facebook.

The Fury Fun Center is opening a “rage room,” in which customers can break stuff like appliances and electronics with blunt objects like baseball bats and sledgehammers. Remember the scene with the fax machine in “Office Space”? That is now a business model.

And it makes sense. This is the quintessential activity for 2022.

We’ve all been through a lot in recent months. The fears of a pandemic, the setbacks of job loss and rising inflation, political upheaval at home and abroad, a war in Europe, Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. It’s been a lot. But we urge caution along with the destruction.

Psychologists say muscle movement can help relieve stress. That’s why exercise is good for mental health. And high-impact interactions with our environment can have a satisfying effect. As Fury Fun Center owner Jason Prince told us, “There is something liberating about breaking glass. The sound of it. The action of it.”

Some therapists recommend that their patients do things like punch a pillow or hammer nails into wood as a sensory release.

But Sydney Barcus, a business leadership consultant with a doctorate in behavioral psychology, said there’s a difference between channeling a moment of fury at a pillow and the more deliberate act of visiting a rage room. By the time a customer schedules the visit, drives to the business, pays money, signs a waiver and listens to a safety briefing, he’s not redirecting angry impulses; he may be creating them.

Barcus explained that unlike low-impact exercise, which releases endorphins in our brains, aggressive action releases adrenaline. That’s part of what gives participants an emotional high. But adrenaline dissipates within minutes, and we just want to hit something again.

Barcus drew a comparison between a rage room and social media. Raging in either setting can be fun and exhilarating, but it isn’t solving our problems. And it can be habit-forming. Breaking stuff shouldn’t be how we cope with stress; we need self-reflection and trusting relationships for that.

Prince told us he’s aware of that dynamic and stressed that Fury Fun Center is not a counseling office.

“We are not therapists,” he said. “We are very aware of the times we’re living in. We want to make sure people understand if there are real mental health issues they’re facing, this is not a solution for them.” That’s the right approach.

The bottom line here is that an enterprising North Texan has created an experience that serves a perfect niche for this cultural moment. Good for him. There’s enough pent-up frustration around us that we have a feeling this business will succeed. Maybe next year, Fury Fun Center will be ready to expand. We recommend a pop-up rage room in a new location: the red carpet at the Oscars.