At the end of the summer of 2023, Alix, a young woman in her twenties, experienced a break-up that, in her own words, devastated her, but above all made her very angry. So the Master's student, who had long struggled to manage her frustrations ("to the point of being consumed from the inside, where [she] could end up hitting [her] best friends"), decided this time to channel them by treating herself to a session in a "rage room." Introduced in Japan during the 2008 financial crisis to soothe the tensions of white-collar workers facing job cuts, these rooms, where people are invited to destroy dishes, appliances or printers with baseball bats or crowbars to the sound of hard rock, have become increasingly popular in Europe and the US over the last 15 years.

"Before I went, I was annoyed and excited at the idea of expelling my excess anger. And during the session, I felt a real sense of power. When I came out of there, I felt as if I'd been drained," recalled the young woman, who admitted, however, that the hoped-for relief was short-lived. Despite this, David Lafranque assured us: "Our rooms are full every week." What's the typical customer profile? "There are several," replied the co-founder of the Fury Room franchise, which has been present in Paris since 2017, but also in Bordeaux, Geneva and Chicago. "We see people who've had a difficult day, parents who come in with their teenagers, managers with their teams, or psychologists with their patients. They're mostly women and, in any case, tend to be people who are restrained or introverted in their daily lives." If these supposedly cathartic rage rooms are so successful, it's because they fit in perfectly with an age that's "on edge."

"The world has too much anger right now," observed historian Yuval Noah Harari on December 22, 2023, in "Les Matins de France Culture." Climate chaos, geopolitical conflicts, soaring inflation, escalating inequalities, and existential security felt to be crumbling, downgraded. So many reasons to feel angry. "I'm usually a very calm person, but lately I've been prone to repeated outbursts of anger," admitted Jean-Baptiste, a 41-year-old optician. "I yell at my kids when they don't listen to me, I get angry with my partner when we disagree, and in general, I grumble a lot about anything and everything. It worries me and makes me feel guilty, so I try to calm myself down by doing more sport and moderating my alcohol intake, but so far, it's not really working."

'Shut up!'

According to the latest Ipsos study, "Fractures Françaises 2023," 45% of us (up nine points over one year) feel part of an "angry" France, whose main concerns are purchasing power, the environment, the future of the social system and immigration. "That's totally me," explained Sophie, 25, a research and development project manager in the energy sector. "It's especially developed over the last few years, as I've become more and more aware of issues like sexism, violence against women, racism, and environmentalism. I feel this anger so strongly that it ends up manifesting itself physically in the form of fatigue, stress and sometimes even skin rashes."

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