Summary
Young adults increasingly seek refuge in autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) videos when feeling overwhelmed by in-person interaction, according to a new report from Revealing Reality.
The study found younger generations (18-44) are significantly more likely to feel overstimulated by social situations and noisy environments compared to older adults.
While ASMR content—videos triggering calming “tingles” through whispers, tapping sounds, and gentle movements—provides immediate comfort, experts worry this “digital soma” may prevent developing real-world resilience skills.
It’s also full of thirst traps praying on these people.
I’ve never understood ASMR.
It is almost always sounds that make me physically cringe, wretch in repulsion and anxiety, not ‘tingle’.
Whispers? Crinkling? Tapping?
Fucking lip smacking and chewing sounds?
That shit is like nails on a chalk board to me, like a dying smoke detector, like a high speed, off balance fan, a yippy yappy dog that won’t shut up.
I am fairly sure I am the target demo. I have autism and am way more annoyed than most people by sounds most people seem to subconsciously block out automatically, and I get drained more by social situations more than most.
Maybe there is an actual, proper way to elicit an ASMR via actually doing a proper method, but the space is flooded with just completely random amateurs.
…
Binaural beats? When actually done properly? As part of like a mindfulness/meditation track?
Works a thousand times better.
It’s…a lot of things.
For starters, not everyone even has ASMR response. I do, some people don’t. It’s the kind of pleasant tingling going through the spine.
Aside from that, there’s also the psychological aspect. I get calmed by the soft voices, especially when they’re feminine, and ASMR videos are also commonly about personal attention, so it might help one feel cared about.
Essentially, in a modern form, it’s not just about calling the ASMR response itself (although, by definition, a good ASMR video should do that, and there are ASMR creators that do it well), it’s about the safe space and personal attention. It’s what many turn for when they need someone to care and soothe and help with regaining the balance.
But binaural beats are cool as well.
Do you have depression or autism or something?
I literally said I have autism in the post you are replying to.
I am fairly sure I am the target demo. I have autism and am way more annoyed than most people by sounds …
Do you actually read things before you comment on them?
The modern, modern ASMR shit you see tends to be garbage that someone claims is ASMR. When it became a mainstream trend to isolate a single sound, record it, and post it on Instagram or Tik-tok the meaning of ASMR really eroded.
Like, 15 or so years ago when the ASMR community on the internet was just starting, there were dozens of people dedicated to making videos and audio that actually trigger the physical ASMR response that some people feel. I’ve heard not everyone can feel the “tingles” that the acronym is actually describing, but I can feel them based in certain triggers AND when my body is in a certain emotional state. I’m not sure if people who have never felt them can’t feel them or just never found the right triggers; I’m inclined to think it’s the latter. I first felt it when I was a kid listening to my school’s librarian read a book; she wasn’t whispering or anything, but the intentionality in her voice while reading (and the lack of other intrusive noises) always made the back of my neck tingle. I had no idea what that was until one day I found this collection of “binaural” audio tracks uploaded to Youtube which ultimately led me to the ASMR community.
ASMR is way more than somebody making a video of themselves just smacking their lips while eating yogurt. It’s a description of a physical feeling. I haven’t really dug into the community lately so I can’t say how hard it is to find quality videos anymore, but I think if you try to look through the list of known common triggers and then look for dedicated creators trying to do a good job with those triggers, you might find something you like.
If you don’t, maybe I’m wrong and it’s true that only some people can feel it.
may prevent developing real-world resilience skills
I’m sorry but every corner of the world is battling rising authoritarianism at least on one front, sometimes multiple. Wealth gaps continue to widen and the environment is increasingly being made less hospitable to us, by us, with no end in sight. Are we supposed to be able to just ignore all that? Maybe the maladaptive trait IS avoiding and ignoring all that in what this article seems to mistake for resilience.
Every post no matter what it’s about essentially blames Trump for something.
I don’t think rising authoritarianism is the reason behind everything. Maybe it’s the fact that a generation grew up staring at screens and not doing anything that makes them uncomfortable.
Removed by mod
I don’t think Trump is right in what he’s doing. I just think there’s times when blaming him for the upvotes is stupid.
Okay, I’ll bite.
Well, then, you’re categorically wrong. These younger humans are not simply stupid. They see that the world is completely destitute and don’t want to engage with them. That doesn’t make them less resilient, they’re trying to limit their impact and their time around other humans because they see all of the chaos being brought about by that interaction. Asmr is an easy way of getting stimulation without impacting anyone else, other than the byproduct of electricity usage. And that’s not really their fault. We have also been vastly cornered into social isolation ever since COVID hit. This is the dissevered reality that Republicans have wanted for a very long time. All of our systems are being gutted, and no one wants to confront the people who are taking them away, including you. So everyone else who gives two shits would rather keep their sanity by finding salvation in isolation than work together with a bunch of people actively destroying the world, through greed, ignorance, or sheer stupidity. Or out of some perceived social necessity as it seems you believe. There is no place in the world for a good majority of the chronically online. We used to have a place when people could work overnight and afford to rent, when they didn’t have to live in their parent’s basements just to survive, when college graduates didn’t have to live paycheck to paycheck. The only people making enough money to dream of a pension or retirement are those who knew someone, or those who had the money to get to know someone and there is increasingly less and less middle ground. The bottom has fallen out for a multitude of reasons over the last several decades, and we’re all caught in the crossfire of a generation past whose entire goal was conquest in a world that increasingly just wants to be left alone. We’re at odds with the past and the future and were just trying to survive. This is how we cope with having our only option being survival.
I never said they were stupid, you assumed that.
We have also been vastly cornered into social isolation ever since COVID hit
I agree with you. That’s what I’m saying. That human eyes are a commodity and we are being taken advantage of. I’m not blaming people who are addicted to screens, but that doesn’t change that they are. I believe it’s not their fault, because these apps are addicting and meant to distract you. Screen addiction is real, and I don’t think rising authoritarianism is to blame. Unchecked capitalism, for sure though. However, as of last month, the two are now hand in hand.
I understand that it’s not easy for a lot of people, but at this point it’s up to us to put the phones down and stop supporting the ones responsible for the issue in the first place.
Fuck off, Trumpet.
You people are nuts
Least I’m not a Nazi.
I fucking hate Trump too, dude. Listen to yourself. “Anyone who disagrees with me on a minute and barely even ligitmate thing is a Nazi.” All I said was this particular thing is not likely due to Trump and you are calling me a Nazi. I think you need to take a step back and breathe.
I think this matter is simple. Before there was no option but to be overstimulated by loud ambients, now there is an option to seek refuge from the loud life with videos and other methods. People have been seeking this in forever, it’s got nothing to do with resilience skills.
I won’t be weaker in real world situations because I seek comfort in ASMR videos, this is just ridiculous. It’s like the banning of smartphones in schools and other things that supposedly break people socially. It’s just the fear brought by the rise of new technology (Internet).
This trend in handholding people so that the status quo is preserved pisses me off.
This is why nobody respects “experts” anymore
Can you please explain what you mean, regarding this study specifically?
Which part of the study do you think that the researchers misunderstood or should have done differently?
I’m referrring to the digital soma comment.
What does ASMR stand for again?
Are you serious?
Yes? Apologies that I can’t remember every acronym that there is.
It’s literally in the first sentence of his post.
Holy hell, I read that body three times and missed it every time…. I’m just gonna go sit in a corner now.
