63
Young adults increasingly struggling offline turn to ASMR videos, report finds
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
63 points (94.4% liked)
Health - Resources and discussion for everything health-related
2641 readers
722 users here now
Health: physical and mental, individual and public.
Discussions, issues, resources, news, everything.
See the pinned post for a long list of other communities dedicated to health or specific diagnoses. The list is continuously updated.
Nothing here shall be taken as medical or any other kind of professional advice.
Commercial advertising is considered spam and not allowed. If you're not sure, contact mods to ask beforehand.
Linked videos without original description context by OP to initiate healthy, constructive discussions will be removed.
Regular rules of lemmy.world apply. Be civil.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
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.
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.