While I'm not "afraid" of roaches myself, I'm certainly grossed out by them. If I spot one, I stop at nothing to kill it, as the last thing I want is the critter crawling into my shoe or on my bed. And nothing makes me reach quicker for the Raid spray than the sight of one that can fly!
I aim to self-fumigate my condo at least once a month. I figure it's a preemptive way to keep the creepy crawlers from venturing inside uninvited.
It's funny how people's reasons for being terrified of roaches are largely irrational. If anything, roaches are afraid of US, who they rightly see as gigantic beings that can squash them into oblivion.
It makes more sense to be afraid of sharks, snakes, or alligators, all of which can make us their next lunch. But some people find roaches so ugly and disgusting (despite their diminutive size) that they want absolutely nothing to do with them. My wife, for example, won't pick up even a dead roach, fearing that it may be playing dead and will suddenly move while she's attempting to pick it up.
If you want to lessen the chances of an encounter with one of these pests, be sure to fumigate your home. And it goes without saying that you should leave neither food nor boxes lying around your place, which roaches are drawn to like magnets.
Are you afraid of roaches? On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 denoting the strongest possible "ick" factor, how grossed out are you by these critters?
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I also rid homes of roaches, for a standard fee of $100/visit, with discounts for the genuinely disabled and barter options for everyone else. So I can say this with authority--spraying poison is what keeps the population *growing* as you're killing the few predators any insect you poison might have. Scrubbing and powder is the way to get rid of roaches. (Of course, in cities where they breed in sewers, or in Florida where they breed everywhere, you never *stop* scrubbing and powdering...)