The opinion that spiders are creepy crawlies that enter our homes just to terrorize us is one that's existed for probably as long as spiders and humans have interacted. We grow up with that concept put in our heads, and it can be hard to shake as you get older.
Luckily, there are some people out there who are dedicated to not only loving spiders, but helping the rest of the world love them too!
In fact, arachnophobia affects anywhere between 3.5% and 6.1% of the population, and when you consider how many of us there are on Earth, that's a lot of people!
For every person that fears or even just hates spiders, there's someone else who absolutely adores them and is wanting to advocate for them.
Hess has a collection of pet jumping spiders that she makes frequent videos about on her TikTok, giving them all names, voices, and unique personalities.
And you know what? They're absolutely adorable.
She put the effort in to make them cute, silly, and approachable. Child-like, even.
She makes 'day in the life' videos, videos of them eating, and captures their funny interactions with her.
You may be asking why she does all this, though?
Hess made a three-part series detailing the work she's done to help combat and diminish her arachnophobia, a fear that used to be so bad she would avoid going into rooms of her house for hours if she saw a spider in there.
Even now, with multiple jumping spiders as pets, she says her fear is at a level 5. Though it did use to be much higher!
She makes a point of including warnings before footage of the spiders jumping at the camera, lunging towards food, anything that someone with arachnophobia might find startling.
Her work is not in vain, as her TikToks often contain comments from people saying her videos have helped.
"You have helped me! I can’t tell you how much all your cute little spider videos have decreased my fear of spiders so much!! Thank you!!" Wrote one thankful commenter.
"[I] have trauma from spiders and you have helped so thank you!! I can watch your [vids] and have little reaction now. [I] look forward to watching you now," said another.
And this is only two of hundreds that share the same sentiment.
She's discussed how they shed, how to handle them, and what benefits jumping spiders (as well as other spiders) bring to a home.
Her goal is to desensitize people, to help show that spiders, as scary as they may seem, are harmless, and can even be adorable when you get to know them.
