Educating yourself about spiders can either enhance or decrease phobias. What it for sure will do is tell you exactly what's dangerous and what's not. I fully admit, living in the woods of the midwest, my house does have a mild brown recluse infestation. But nobody has been bit as of yet, not in over 30 years, they're just kinda there and if they come out in the open, they are promptly smashed and disposed of. I'd rather not take the risk after all. Spiders, like anything else, are often completely benign if left alone, though I have seen aggressive spiders. One in particular was hiding under my monitor and would jump at my hand when I moved my mouse. However this was not a recluse, rather a common house spider that decided my desk was a nice corner to hide in. I've also seen a couple red legged purseweb spiders around - endangered species - and several varieties of jumping spiders which aren't exactly shy around humans either. Needless to say our fly problem is minimal at best. I never see the pests beyond the dogfood bowl I keep outside. Standing aggreement is the spiders don't bite us and we keep them well fed.
