Why do we get itchy and feel like something’s crawling on us when we look at insects like spiders?
In: Biology
It’s a defense mechanism. When we still lived in the wild, that exact thing would happen (weird sensation, look down to see an insect, swipe it off you and potentially saved yourself from a fatal bite or sting). It just carried over to modern times as well.
The human brain is programmed to dislike insects because it associates them with decay, disease, and death depending on the insect, so when we see a bug, the brain tries to prepare you for the bug being on you, by imitating the sensation of a bug walking on u. In the case of some bugs, it also serves to make u check if there are any already on you, because oftentimes where there is one bug, there are many bugs.
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