Last month, I came across a feature in the Sunday New York Times Magazine regarding a somewhat ephemeral perhaps even ineffable phenomenon that’s been titled: “Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response.” Before one Jennifer Allen came up with this nicely formal and scientific sounding name it was referred to by many other names including the catchy “brain-gasm.”
Online discussion groups about this phenomenon and its triggers eventually led to people deliberately creating triggers – primarily videos they’d post to YouTube. Google – YouTube’s mother company has posted an explanatory article:
“Coined in 2010, ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) is a relaxing, often sedative sensation that begins on the scalp and moves down the body. Also known as ‘brain massage,’ it’s triggered by placid sights and sounds such as whispers, accents, and crackles.
“‘Basically, it feels like the amazing chills you get when someone plays with your hair or traces your back with their fingertips,’ says Heather Feather, a popular ‘ASMRtist’ with nearly 400,000 YouTube subscribers. The dulcet tones of famed soft-spoken painter Bob Ross are among the most common ASMR triggers. Indeed, ‘Bob Ross’ is among the terms most frequently associated with ASMR—and so are ‘Heather Feather’ and ‘GentleWhispering,’ another top ASMRtist on YouTube.
“Creators like Heather Feather are making videos that create the tingly ASMR effect.”
You can read the whole article here: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/asmr-videos-youtube-trend/.
Here’s a link to the YT channel of one highly popular ASMRtidt, Gibi ASMR: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE6acMV3m35znLcf0JGNn7Q.
