When people don't understand something they tend to laugh at it. Let's change this about ASMR.
I have been embarrassed to admit my experiences of asmr and watching of asmr videos because of how low the community has been looked down upon on since it is misunderstood. I first experienced ASMR when I was quite young, from friends tracing images on my back and from page turning sounds at the library. I have been watching ASMR videos on youtube for 5 years now and I am very involved in the community, in the sense that I participate in discussion and all of the psych tests I can find that have to do with discovering exactly what asmr is and why it makes people feel the way it does.
So what is ASMR? What do we know about it? It is the tingles you get when you hear, see, experience, feel, etc., something. Kind of. That is the easiest explanation I have. ASMR is a tingly/relaxing response some people (not everyone can feel it) get from different triggers.
Other people's early-on experiences of asmr tend to be in childhood with the experience of tingles and an ultimate feeling of relaxation from hearing parents or teachers read childhood books, the sounds of cooking, from watching Mr. Rogers, Bob Ross, etc.
Quite often the asmr community is misunderstood because people don't understand the videos on youtube when they stumble upon them (some have over a million views, so it will land into people's sidebars and whatnot). People will see it and respond like "Why is this person whispering at me and stroking a book?", the simple answer is because some people find it relaxing.
Unfortunately, some people also experience the direct opposite of asmr, misophonia, which is an extreme feeling of rage to certain sounds. I have felt this hatred towards sounds of gum chewing, and tapping, which are also sound triggers of asmr. The odd thing is quite often people who experience asmr also experience misophonia, and sometimes even with the same triggers. For example, I can experience asmr tingles from the sounds of gum chewing, but the way some people chew gum it drives me nuts and I feel like yelling at them to stop. It's weird.
The other reason why people misunderstand asmr is because little research has been done in it as to why it occurs, why it helps people with anxiety, autism, and many other disorders and disabled individuals stay calm and relax. ASMR also helps people fall asleep, and just relax.
For those looking for some video examples, here is a few varieties of types of asmr videos, to see maybe what it is, and if you can get triggers yourself. But be calm: some people don't experience tingles AT ALL or right away. Some people feel it right away. Also be warned that asmr doesn't happen all of the time and almost everybody in the community agrees that if they watch too many asmr videos that the sensation weakens and goes away. The only known cure so far is to back away from watching the videos for a while (weeks, months for some) and go back to it later.
First of all, here is a playlist I have on my youtube account. This is not all of my favourite videos, just some of the videos that I go back to over time.
https://youtu.be/nmmempg2My0?list=PLBF07E850827A2605
Here is the first ASMR video I ever discovered. As I said earlier, one of my first "triggers" was the sound of people turning pages. So I decided one day to youtube "page turning sounds" until I discovered the ASMR community. At first, I thought "this is weird... who would listen to sounds of people crinkling chip bags, whispering up close into the camera, tapping different materials, and opening and closing lids?" and then I tried one video. This was the first video I tried:
It is terrible quality, but I still listen to it time to time. Quite often videos are now much more well-produced, like this:
They use 3Dio microphones or just multiple smaller microphones to make it sound more like the sound is around you, inside your ears, etc. And by "They" we like to call the people who make asmr videos asmrtists. Sound artists. Whatever. It's corny but we like it.
There is an asmrtist that I listen to sometimes, Toni Bomboni. He is often criticized because he wears makeup and does role play asmr videos that people often find a little different. He was even featured on Tosh.0. (Which I love Tosh.0, but that is not my point). Tosh is actually probably one of the better and more sensitive outsiders to approach the asmr topic, I find often newscasters are more blunt and rude with their misunderstandings. Anyways, I'll let you experience Toni for yourself.
There are many other asmr videos that have creepy elements to them that some people often find tingle inducing (including myself) like WhispersUnicorn's ASMR kidnapping video, which actually gave me tingles galore the first few times I watched it. Also, Ephemeral Rift makes asmr videos as well that have creepy and/or, abstract methods of inducing asmr.
Here is a "sounds only" variety video:
Here is a "word trigger" video:
The last video I'll share with you is one from GentleWhispering, Maria. Maria is essentially the queen of asmr. She has some of the most subscribers in the community and one of the biggest fan groups. I love her videos.
So if there is a sound out there that you once enjoyed, whether it be storytelling, crinkling, tapping, wiping, ripping, scratching, mouth sounds, walking sounds, word triggers, roleplays such as various doctor roleplays, and 1000s more, there is a video out there on youtube. Just put on your headphones, (it works much better than playing from your speakers, TRUST ME) and search asmr _____ on youtube, and you will find it.
Last but not least, reddit has a huge community of asmr lovers as well. Often people who experience asmr can't experience it from people who are directly trying to trigger you, but from people just doing regular tasks that just so happen to induce asmr. Reddit has a page for that. Here it is.
Anyways, that is all for now. I just thought I would help people understand it. This is a pretty basic 101 that you will need for knowing about asmr. There is a lot more to the community: all of the psych research being done by students and professionals around the world, the debates on facebook and other online groups about asmr and it's relationship to sexual pleasure, or if there is one, and more. It's a very complex idea that needs to be explored. I'd just hate to see more people misunderstand it.
I have been embarrassed to admit my experiences of asmr and watching of asmr videos because of how low the community has been looked down upon on since it is misunderstood. I first experienced ASMR when I was quite young, from friends tracing images on my back and from page turning sounds at the library. I have been watching ASMR videos on youtube for 5 years now and I am very involved in the community, in the sense that I participate in discussion and all of the psych tests I can find that have to do with discovering exactly what asmr is and why it makes people feel the way it does.
So what is ASMR? What do we know about it? It is the tingles you get when you hear, see, experience, feel, etc., something. Kind of. That is the easiest explanation I have. ASMR is a tingly/relaxing response some people (not everyone can feel it) get from different triggers.
Other people's early-on experiences of asmr tend to be in childhood with the experience of tingles and an ultimate feeling of relaxation from hearing parents or teachers read childhood books, the sounds of cooking, from watching Mr. Rogers, Bob Ross, etc.
Quite often the asmr community is misunderstood because people don't understand the videos on youtube when they stumble upon them (some have over a million views, so it will land into people's sidebars and whatnot). People will see it and respond like "Why is this person whispering at me and stroking a book?", the simple answer is because some people find it relaxing.
Unfortunately, some people also experience the direct opposite of asmr, misophonia, which is an extreme feeling of rage to certain sounds. I have felt this hatred towards sounds of gum chewing, and tapping, which are also sound triggers of asmr. The odd thing is quite often people who experience asmr also experience misophonia, and sometimes even with the same triggers. For example, I can experience asmr tingles from the sounds of gum chewing, but the way some people chew gum it drives me nuts and I feel like yelling at them to stop. It's weird.
The other reason why people misunderstand asmr is because little research has been done in it as to why it occurs, why it helps people with anxiety, autism, and many other disorders and disabled individuals stay calm and relax. ASMR also helps people fall asleep, and just relax.
For those looking for some video examples, here is a few varieties of types of asmr videos, to see maybe what it is, and if you can get triggers yourself. But be calm: some people don't experience tingles AT ALL or right away. Some people feel it right away. Also be warned that asmr doesn't happen all of the time and almost everybody in the community agrees that if they watch too many asmr videos that the sensation weakens and goes away. The only known cure so far is to back away from watching the videos for a while (weeks, months for some) and go back to it later.
First of all, here is a playlist I have on my youtube account. This is not all of my favourite videos, just some of the videos that I go back to over time.
https://youtu.be/nmmempg2My0?list=PLBF07E850827A2605
Here is the first ASMR video I ever discovered. As I said earlier, one of my first "triggers" was the sound of people turning pages. So I decided one day to youtube "page turning sounds" until I discovered the ASMR community. At first, I thought "this is weird... who would listen to sounds of people crinkling chip bags, whispering up close into the camera, tapping different materials, and opening and closing lids?" and then I tried one video. This was the first video I tried:
It is terrible quality, but I still listen to it time to time. Quite often videos are now much more well-produced, like this:
They use 3Dio microphones or just multiple smaller microphones to make it sound more like the sound is around you, inside your ears, etc. And by "They" we like to call the people who make asmr videos asmrtists. Sound artists. Whatever. It's corny but we like it.
There is an asmrtist that I listen to sometimes, Toni Bomboni. He is often criticized because he wears makeup and does role play asmr videos that people often find a little different. He was even featured on Tosh.0. (Which I love Tosh.0, but that is not my point). Tosh is actually probably one of the better and more sensitive outsiders to approach the asmr topic, I find often newscasters are more blunt and rude with their misunderstandings. Anyways, I'll let you experience Toni for yourself.
There are many other asmr videos that have creepy elements to them that some people often find tingle inducing (including myself) like WhispersUnicorn's ASMR kidnapping video, which actually gave me tingles galore the first few times I watched it. Also, Ephemeral Rift makes asmr videos as well that have creepy and/or, abstract methods of inducing asmr.
Here is a "sounds only" variety video:
Here is a "word trigger" video:
The last video I'll share with you is one from GentleWhispering, Maria. Maria is essentially the queen of asmr. She has some of the most subscribers in the community and one of the biggest fan groups. I love her videos.
So if there is a sound out there that you once enjoyed, whether it be storytelling, crinkling, tapping, wiping, ripping, scratching, mouth sounds, walking sounds, word triggers, roleplays such as various doctor roleplays, and 1000s more, there is a video out there on youtube. Just put on your headphones, (it works much better than playing from your speakers, TRUST ME) and search asmr _____ on youtube, and you will find it.
Last but not least, reddit has a huge community of asmr lovers as well. Often people who experience asmr can't experience it from people who are directly trying to trigger you, but from people just doing regular tasks that just so happen to induce asmr. Reddit has a page for that. Here it is.
Anyways, that is all for now. I just thought I would help people understand it. This is a pretty basic 101 that you will need for knowing about asmr. There is a lot more to the community: all of the psych research being done by students and professionals around the world, the debates on facebook and other online groups about asmr and it's relationship to sexual pleasure, or if there is one, and more. It's a very complex idea that needs to be explored. I'd just hate to see more people misunderstand it.
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