Category: Mental Health Scares

• The Radio and Insanity

  This theory claimed that radio, especially higher-frequency broadcasting and rapidly expanding home listening, was causing nervous disorders, rising crime, irritability, and even forms of insanity. In some versions, the medium itself overstimulated the brain through unseen waves; in others, crime programs, thrill serials, and constant sonic stimulation were said to unbalance listeners and produce antisocial behavior. The theory was part medical panic, part media panic, and part crime explanation during the 1930s.