Just me or are malls a spawn from the deepest bowels of hell

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Another vote for: I don't like the mall and that's an understatement. All the noise...people everywhere...it just ends up feeling confusing to me. I am not sure why - I don't think I'm a particularly stupid person (average IQ) - but when I hear too much sound all in one place, I can no longer make sense of what is going on.

I avoid malls.

I don't begrudge anyone who likes them - whatever makes you happy, I mean we should all go for what makes us happy in this world if it isn't hurting anybody.

I avoid malls like I avoid teenagers...unless there's a bookstore, in which case I embark on a dangerous quest in a bizarre alien planet full of annoying, seizury lights, blaring music, clothes everywhere [why are there so many clothing stores?!], and park myself into the fantasy/sci-fi/manga sections for dear life.

I actually don't mind malls at all.

Yes they can be very overstimulating. All the sounds, sights, noise, colors, etc. but I deal with it.

All it really does it actually excite me myself - as in I just feel bursting with uncontrollable energy. Maybe it's just I mentally absorb all the 'energy' the mall gives-off and re-channel it instead of letting it hurt me.

Shopping is fine, I use to get anxiety at supermarkets and such, especially full one's but I'm fine now.

I will point out that I definitely prefer them emptier and especially at early night when they are most emptiest rather than when they are full or packed.

To me malls are more boring than anything else. They are a popular hang out spot for teenagers I have noticed, but I struggle to see the appeal. I actually want to enjoy malls, I actually want to like being at them. But there is no replay value. If you're not shopping there's not much else. Just commercialized, gritty little thrills.

It seems for teenagers it is mostly always funner with friends and as a hang out spot than alone.

I do like to find the arcades and game machines (candy/plushie toys) and hang out at them, but my local one has none. Me and a friend did play in the arcade in his town's one though.

Anyway, yeah. It seems to me that a mall is only for shopping, period, but has this illusion of being different, of being some entertainment hub for all the locals to be drawn towards. It's actually not, though.

Not only do I not like malls, they also kill local small businesses. When I was little, there were small stores everywhere and you didn't have to go far to shop. Now, you have to go a long ways.

Luckily where I live there are no big malls, but as a rule I hate them, I get lost, confused over stimulated and fearful of the crowds. Last time I went to one, I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to find the exit and the car again that I just stayed in the shops next to the entrance and didn't venture further in.

Malls do not particularly bother me, but I like going when I know there is less of a crowd and it is going to be mellow, like on a weekday afternoon or evening. I hate going on the weekends because it is too noisy and it seems like people only go there dressed to the nines to show off. But, I only go about once a year.

Although, I really feel like malls are declining in their utility with all the online shopping that is going on nowadays. If I can avoid going out somewhere and wasting fuel then I will just order online.

The worst thing is I actually like malls - I like shopping, checking all the stuff up close, touching (the reason I don't like online shopping is because I can't touch what I buy - I like touching stuff), buying useful things.
Malls are interesting.

But I can't stand the sounds, lights and clutter. It's too colorful. Too many people moving around. Too many items in random places... I become upset and tired very fast yet I often don't realize how bad I actually feel. I realize it when I manage to think of putting on my soundproof headphones and close my eyes (usually I forget I can do it...) and suddenly feel relieved.

After visit in a mall I am always dead tired and nearly mute.
Except the times when I figure out I can use my headphones before actually entering the sensory hell.

I'm not too fond of shopping malls for it means to much navigating through masses of people whom I wish I could simply teleport out of my way whereby, I'd be able to reach my destination(s) and acquire the goods or merchandise I need and be on my merry way. Though this is not the case and I'm sometimes having to turn on coffee mode where one part of my brain goes on a break while I can do whatever tasks need to be carried out while not being overwhelmed.Mind you this is not a fool proof technique as it does not work always.

I avoid large shopping malls as much as possible. Not my idea of fun. I usually go on weekdays after work to buy what I want at a mall. They are a nightmare just before Christmas, despite the lovely coloured lights and decorations, and I've often wondered what would happen if I could let a few pythons loose in the crowd!

Some of the malls in our largest cities are just too big and I usually get lost or claustrophobic. I especially used to panic when trying to drive around the multi level circular parking lots. Once when we came out of a movie, I panicked and had a mini meltdown as I couldn't locate my car, but we found it further down in the open air parking area as all the exits look the same.

My friend hates malls even more and usually gets out even quicker than I do, as he can zip through a crowd like a tiny robot on steroids.

I don't like malls, mainly because of the sensory overload and how crowded they are. What bothers me most is I can feel a low rumble going through the entire building, and I feel it go through my body.

I also really hate walking past perfume counters, or going in stores that have a lot of scented stuff like Bath and Body Works. Sometimes just walking past the entrance to one of those stores really gets me choked up.

When I'm shopping, I like to be able to just leave and get back to my car really fast if I get overwhelmed or disgusted with the place. If I'm walking around in the middle of a mall, I can't do that. I would rather park outside the store I want to go in, leave, and then move the car around to the next store I want to go in.

If I'm on a mission to buy something, lol, I can tolerate a lot. But I never find much of anything I really want in mall stores. When I get a $10 off $10 coupon for JC Penney, I will go just to use that, but even spending free money it's hard to find something I really want.

I do like antique malls though.

Speaking of shopping malls, I think journeys will lead to one for me today.Nah, rather I'm going to the local used bookshop instead where it is peacefull...

Most movies today are designed not so much to tell a story as to stimulate the viewers visual and auditory senses *and* the processing centers + emotions behind them. In other words, they try to trigger adrenaline and the method utilized is to hammer the viewers' senses until they feel just slightly threatened. From the point of view of someone in a family of highly sensitive people however, the average person would appear to have the emotional response to sensory input of a rock, or perhaps a dessicated potato judging by the amount of stimulus required. Clearly we are not the target audience of movie theaters.

I think enclosed shopping malls have evolved into much the same thing. They are now designed to stimulate in a way similar to movies (and gambling casinos, though with some obvious differences). They are made to feel completely artificial, as far from our safe natural environment as possible. Malls are brightly lit, with sound and apparent movement everywhere (high contrast, sun & shadow, bright blinking lights, visible traffic patterns). Mostly smooth, hard surfaces to bounce sound instead of absorbing it makes them seem far more crowded. And being a large, enclosed air space means there are lots of low frequency resonances from air conditioning and other sources. All in all, I'd say they are intentionally designed to stimulate people into a high arousal state (not necessarily sexual arousal, just sensory stimulus) so they'll find it "exciting" and hopefully buy more and return more often for their next hit of adrenaline and endorphins.

Well, then if shopping malls are nothing more than places of stimulation then there is no wonder why people seem to be rushing and scurrying like ants as, if they were in a 1970's disaster movie like "Towering Inferno"..

I don't go to malls because I order everything online except for food. I'm terrified of escalators. I can only imagine falling on one of those things.

I hate trying on clothes in stores. I used to love clothes shopping when I was a teenager. Now I find it frustrating because I have a bigger waist and everything clings to my stomach. So I buy clothes online too.