Oh Youtube. What an inescapable cesspool of weird fascination your are. And now, just when we thought you had brought us every bizarre piece of video material in existence on this earth, you present us with ASMR.
If you’re not familiar, ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, which is basically just a fancy name for ‘getting the tingles’. Apparently, if you listen to certain sounds or soothing voices for long enough, you’ll eventually feel a relaxing, tingling sensation in your head.
And people on Youtube are going bonkers for it. Take a look at this example, in which you can pretend you are getting a soothing haircut. For an hour:
There are people who call themselves ASMR ‘artists’, and they claim to be experts on the forefront of ‘tingle head’ theory. ASMR artists create Youtube videos in which they whisper into the camera, crinkle paper, pretend to be your doctor, brush their hair while smiling and humming softly… Basically, these people just sit in front of a camera for 20 minutes and try to give Youtubers tingly heads.
And despite there being approximately zero scientific proof to back up any of these ‘special tingle feeling’ claims, millions upon millions of people are watching ASMR videos.
ABC’s 7:30 interviewed an ASMR artist who goes by the name GentleWhispering. And she’s legit – her videos have been viewed almost a hundred million times. Just this one of her pretending to blow into viewers’ ears for 25 minutes has had 1.5 million hits alone:
GentleWhispering claims that the soothing and relaxing nature of ASMR brings comfort to people.
“It feels as if an adult is calming their child, and it feels like you are a child and somebody’s being very attentive to you,” she told ABC. “So it’s very pleasant to hear, especially in a hard time.”
Well, that sort of, kind of makes a little bit of sense, doesn’t it? Everybody needs a little bit comforting every now and again. Remember that feeling of comfort and safety you got when your parents read you bedtime stories? ASMR videos are kind of like bedtime stories for grown ups. In fact, there are whole bunch of ASMR ‘bedtime stories’ videos:
So, as weird as it is to search ‘ASMR’ on Youtube and be confronted with a bunch os people whispering into the camera like you’re a mental patient who needs to be calmed down, maybe there’s something to the whole craze. Hundreds of millions of people getting the tingles from watching a woman smile while she brushes her hair can’t be wrong.
One person’s creepy is another person’s comfort.
Like Mamamia Rogue on Facebook
Rogue is Mamamia’s space for fun, viral and random content, with everything from feminism to pop culture. We scour the internet so you don’t have to, and bring all the best bits back.
Top Comments
Am I the only one who was waiting for the punchline where they gave their number for more intimate (one on one) favours??! Seriously I felt like a middle aged man watching those sleezy internet pop up ads! ...'I will do anything you want' 'look at the beauty of my face, look into my eyes'. Oh come on. They're all young an attractive. I'm pretty sure that their target audience is lonely men looking for something to fantasise about!
IN saying all that. I get the pleasure in a salon visit and scalp massage etc. And can even understand how just imagining it and hearing it can feel real and give the same benefits. Much like meditation... BUT. Non of these three clips left me feeling pure about the whole thing. I feel a bit sullied. And. I agree with the poster re. the smacking lip sounds. yikes
I don't like the whispering ones so much, but some of the other kinds (typing, crinkling, haircut ones) are really soothing when I've been stressed or unable to sleep.