I would counter and say that those who reacted most fervently to COVID were the quickest to recover and those who were most blasé and dismissive are paying the price. New Zealand went immediately to stage 4 “where you sleep tonight is where you must stay” and their efforts have been admired.
> I wonder if there's a psychological reasoning underneath.
boredom
A safe, regulated, mechanically functioning society day after day is boring as hell†. Catastrophe is one of the easiest changes to imagine and fantasize about. Which is probably also why dystopian cyberpunk is more popular than utopian sci-fi.
† If you don't get enough leisure time or have enough activities to fill it with.
I think what's truly missing is purpose and community, not leisure time although you may have left that implied.
Many want their life to be special, to be part of something bigger. Modern life can lack a sense of purpose and community, so even with infinite entertainment at our fingertips we still yearn for something deeper. Like you said, conspiracy or chaos can fill those desires. You get to be part of an "in-group" and be part of something bigger. Life just gets a bit more dramatic and interesting. Probably why cults can exist at all as well.
I used to wonder how anyone could be stupid enough to fall in with a cult, but after living a traditional modern 9-5 for a while I can totally see the hole that was missing that a cult, religion, conspiracy or commune would fill.
Humans are special because of our ability to forecast and run scenarios. You can "practice" dangerous situations in your mind -- a great tool to mitigate them if they arise!
This can go to an extreme, of course. People seek security by modeling everything, playing it all out, and trying to prevent bad things from happening.
It's normal human behavior that is supercharged by modern information overload.
Greatly overestimating security impacts, the impacts of COVID, aggressive "new normal" lockdown proponents, militant preppers, etc.
Paradoxically, I think some might feel more secure when they are the messengers of chaos. I wonder if there's a psychological reasoning underneath.