A closer look
Ostrich effect is the cognitive bias that causes people to completely avoid information they perceive as negative by physically or metaphorically ignoring it, much like the popular myth of a bird burying its head in the sand; this is the exact psychological mechanism that physically prevents you from checking your mobile banking app after a long, heavily intoxicated weekend of buying overpriced drinks for strangers, as your mind rationalizes that if you do not look directly at the negative account balance then the financial ruin somehow does not exist in the physical realm, and while ignoring your crushing credit card debt does not actually make it disappear, it does afford you a few extra hours of blissful, delusional peace
