Hi, guys. Welcome back. I hope you're doing well.
Without further ado, let’s start.
And... I hope that you enjoy this.
Love you, guys. Bye.
I mean, I have a good job.
I get to sit on the Internet all day and see what it’s doing to me.
Then I go to my editor and I stress her out with what I've found.
I write stories about culture,
and right now, culture is something that's shaped by the Internet -
a place that gives me mixed feelings. On one hand...
I think the Internet provides a community that you wouldn't have normally.
I grew up in a really white neighborhood,
and I didn't know anybody who looked like me or did things like me.
I think the Internet opened a room for me to sort of see what that looked like.
On the other hand, Nazis...
you know?
Hi, Bill. My name is Scaachi Koul. I’m a reporter from BuzzFeed News.
I'm calling because I'm working on a story about ASMR, and I wanted to see
if this was something maybe you were researching.
It's a brain reaction to certain sounds, like people tapping,
or touching fabric, or eat really loudly into microphones.
No, it's not... I don't think it's porn. It doesn't, um...
A lot of times, the Internet takes me to some pretty weird places,
and my next article is no exception.
I'm writing about the Internet phenomenon known as ASMR.
Succulent.
ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, which is...
a brain reaction to certain visual and auditory stimuli.
In a practical sense, this is a genre of YouTube videos
where people whisper...
...tap...
or do whatever they can to induce a warm, fuzzy feeling
many users describe as a head orgasm.
When ASMR works,
it creates this sort of tingling feeling in my spine and in my brain.
I have a busy life and a hectic job. This is one thing
that quiets my brain.
I don't feel like it's a new thing that people want to feel better
or that people want comfort. We always want that.
But there's something that's happening in the last, probably, three years
where it's really sort of exploded in a bigger way.
Even though only some people get the tingles,
last year, the number of videos tagged "ASMR" on YouTube more than doubled,
growing from five million to more than 11 million in just one year.
Hundreds of new ASMR videos are posted every hour.
I'm really curious about why it's gotten so popular in the last few years
and what that popularity says about us.
Good evening.
Welcome to another ASMR session.
I'm just examining...
Just paying attention...
Making sure that... you're in good health.
A little brushing...
for your cheeks.
My God, my brain's on fire.
Oh, my God. We've got to get out of here.
With half a billion views since she first started in 2011...
Thank you so much for joining me tonight.
..Maria might be the Internet's most watched whisperer.
We’ll start with infamous crinkle comb.
I’m really excited because I feel like it’s a new thing for me to fail at.
- I’m really looking forward to it. - You're going to do great.
Our main concern is a viewer’s sleep.
I would suggest sometimes looking at the camera,
as if you're looking at the viewer's eyes,
and then just gently creating the little soothing sounds,
and just saying something.
For example, "Listen to this crinkle."
- Enjoy this comb sound. - Yes, nice and crinkly.
In 2009, I was going through anxious times.
There was a video that said "whisper" in the title, and I was so intrigued.
I just got this weird, tingling sensation all through my legs, through my arms,
and there was no turning back.
So now, let's try a little bit of whispering,
- or just lowering down the voice. - Lowering down the voice.
- Very good. - Oh, thanks.
Great job.
I'm just thinking about, like, my extremely Indian mother,
and how she would watch this and be like, "This is nonsense."
You have to realize that there are people
- who really, truly enjoy it. - Oh, yes.
And there are people who really benefit from it.
Why do you think it's gotten so popular recently?
I think it's just with the emergence of more stress.
For a lot of people, insomnia is an issue,
and sometimes medication could have a side effect to it.
We're hoping that we can have a research
to prove that it actually benefits you on deeper levels than we can even imagine.
Do people ever come up to you and think that what you do is porn
or that it’s sexual?
A lot of people have this misconception.
I usually try to be as nurturing, almost a motherly figure in the videos.
I enjoy this effect of intimacy and personal attention during the videos,
but I can see how a lot of people would take it for the wrong thing.
Is artificial intimacy better, in a way?
Of course, artificial intimacy is not better,
but if it helps someone, it helps someone. That's the bottom line.
- I'm good. How are you? - Good, good.
We just left Maria's house. She's the ASMR artist with a million subscribers.
There has to be some study of that particular phenomenon.
I know. It's so bizarre.
The Internet. Where else?
ASMR was probably the first psychological phenomenon
that was discovered by Internet users, rather than by scientists.
You guys are kind of playing a bit of catch-up, then, with the Internet.
Which is a strange position to be in, as a scientist.
So I’m one of the people who gets it. Why doesn’t everybody get it?
We essentially put two groups of individuals
into a functional MRI scanner,
one with ASMR, and one that was a group of matched controls.
Steve says that when a typical person is relaxed,
certain brain areas tend to fire together as a network.
But in ASMR brains, this network is different,
swapping out some of the traditional brain areas in favor of using other parts,
like the areas related to vision, sensory information and movement.
So what we found was that individuals with ASMR
have networks that are fundamentally different than people who don’t have ASMR.
- Why do you think we're wired this way? - We’ve done one personality study
where people with ASMR were more open to experience,
but they were also more neurotic,
so a greater level of emotional instability.
I feel like you’re really writing my dating profile right now.
- Yeah, and less agreeable. - Yeah, yeah.
- So... - Great.
Joking aside, there's no real answer to your question.
At this point, a lot of it’s just speculation.
Right.
So the science of ASMR is still far from settled,
but it seems that some people - a lot of people -
are really benefiting from it.
Users on Reddit and YouTube post story after story
of how ASMR is helping them cope with depression, anxiety, PTSD and more.
Who are these users, and how is it helping them?
Glue, string. What else do you need?
- Not yet, no. - Okay.
Oh, I like the gold glitter. Maybe I'll do some of that.
Do some of everything.
So we’re making jewelry?
- Yes. - Okay.
What’s the appeal for her?
This whole thing feels like an ASMR experience.
What are your triggers?
Tapping. The back-scratching videos are nice.
- Yeah. - And then when they do
the ones where they have the microphone where it feels like it’s behind your ear.
They kind of like move their head like...
So clearly, you watch a lot of ASMR videos.
- I do. - So how often do you watch them?
Every day.
- Every day? - Constantly, yeah.
Like during the day or at night?
During the day, when I'm not doing anything, yeah.
I don't even watch TV.
Welcome to this relaxing towel folding tutorial.
I was mainly raised in, like, the inner city.
High crime and...
It wasn't all that great of a childhood.
A couple of years ago, I was really sad and, like, really depressed.
I didn't like how my life was turning out.
Coming across the ASMR videos and just watching it,
it just took me out of reality for a second.
It really, really helps, like, with my depression and the anxiety.
Do you think ASMR is a kind of therapy for you?
Yes, definitely, a hundred percent.
Free therapy.
I don't even feel, like, depressed any more or anything, no, no.
Would your ideal scenario be that you could have somebody here
doing a one-on-one live ASMR session to and with you?
I don't know.
I like the fact that...
no one knows.
Like, she doesn't know me, I don't know her,
but she's doing this for me. So it's kind of like me wearing a mask.
I can be private about it.
I'm in Jersey.
I just left from visiting an ASMR superfan.
It sounds like she had a really traumatic childhood,
and, you know, it’s like accessible therapy for her.
Thank you so much for coming to Whisperlodge.
If at any point you feel unsafe or even uncomfortable,
please ask one of the guides. Let them know.
We're happy to adjust anything or change anything.
Take the last couple of minutes to listen to the city around you.
This will be the last of the outside world you hear for the next 90 minutes.
Whisperlodge is a sensory journey of live ASMR.
The practice of live ASMR involves a lot of personal attention,
whether it's focusing on an object or a person.
And in doing that,
you naturally create intimacy between two people.
Okay?
Watching YouTube videos of ASMR
gives you intimacy without vulnerability.
When you come to Whisperlodge, you're getting intimacy
and you are vulnerable.
Our hope is that they find a deeper state
of both relaxation and presence.
The bulk of the activities we offer are one-on-one sessions.
So, effectively, we are playing out the ASMR role plays that you see online.
My scene is the office,
so my dynamic is meant to invoke the teacher-student dynamic.
Another scene we offer is "The Boudoir."
The character in that scene is more flirtatious.
If it arouses someone, then that works for that person,
and I don't think that we should say that that is wrong.
What we are doing here is, in a way, trying to combat
how everything is being digitized in our lives.
And by bringing this into a live setting, we are forcing you
to try to have this intimate connection with someone.
I think the essential reaction
to Whisperlodge is that moment when people walk back into the world.
When they step out that door,
the wind is louder, the light seems brighter...
and...
that's the gift of Whisperlodge.
That was the most complicated experience I've ever had.
I don't know if that was the worst thing I've ever done or the best.
It could have been both. They gave me a melted chocolate.
I got some of it.
I got it when she did the ear exam.
I got it a little bit with the brushing. I’m kinda bummed.
I really wanted to... I wanted it to, like...
work, but it required me, like, giving up pieces of myself,
and I don't want to do that.
I'm realizing more and more that everyone is entitled
to a little bit of one-sided intimacy now and then
because, well, you get tired.
And if that means asking a stranger to make you feel better
using clicks and taps and whispers, then so be it.
In an era when we eat our meals in front of a screen,
when kids spend more time on their phones than they do with their friends,
and when neighbors rarely stop to say hello,
this seems to be one instance
where the Internet is introducing some of that human connection
back into our lives... one gentle whisper at a time.