People who can't walk through a store without running their fingers along every surface aren't being childish - they learned early that the world only felt real when their body confirmed it because the emotional information they received from people was never reliable enough to trust - Silicon Canals

"For many of us, that compulsive need to touch isn't about poor impulse control. It's about confirmation. It's about making sure the world around us is real, solid, tangible - because somewhere along the line, we learned that the emotional landscape we navigated wasn't."

"If you grew up in an environment where emotions were unpredictable, where 'I'm fine' meant anything but fine, where love came with conditions that changed daily, your nervous system learned something crucial: physical reality was more trustworthy than emotional reality."

"The cool metal of a shopping cart handle doesn't lie. The soft fabric of a sweater is exactly what it appears to be. The rough texture of brick as you walk past a building gives you immediate, honest feedback. No mixed signals. No hidden meanings. No gaslighting."

Touching objects in stores is not immature fidgeting but a meaningful psychological behavior. People who grew up in emotionally unpredictable environments learn to rely on physical sensations as truth detectors because emotional landscapes felt unreliable. Tangible sensations—the metal of a shopping cart, fabric texture, or brick roughness—provide honest, immediate feedback without mixed signals or hidden meanings. This behavior intensifies during stressful periods as individuals seek grounding through physical sensations. The nervous system develops a preference for concrete, verifiable physical reality over abstract emotional experiences that may have been inconsistent or confusing during childhood.

Read at Silicon Canals