The power behind odd satisfaction

By Mahogany Burrus

Cutting soap, creating farting slime, cutting and molding colorful sand, these

are all the main topics of the micro genre of oddly satisfying videos on social

media today. These eye-catching videos have given its viewers a sense of

relaxation and satisfaction during quarantine and in the midst of being met with

boredom.

In today’s society, we stress about many things that affect our daily lives.

From the jobs we work to the amount of schoolwork assigned to us, especially

recently with the rising uncertainties of the Coronavirus. These “oddly satisfying”

videos bring people a feeling of calmness and tranquility.

These videos can be viewed on every social media platform but are most

popular on Instagram and YouTube. They can range from many topics from

ASMR videos which includes a person whispering or eating into a microphone,

this gives an amplified sound of the person’s chewing and of their word

movements.

Other videos can consist of a person using a switch-blade to cut soap into

small pieces or even into different shapes and objects, there are also videos of

individuals using slime to create odd noises. These repetitive videos of different

materials being manipulated can cause viewers to lose track of time. The
popularity of these videos has grown over the years, some viewers find they help

them sleep better at night.

According to New York Times reporter Jamie Lauren Keiles, the

“subculture is bonded not by belief but rather by an ineffable sensation — perhaps

the first time the internet has revealed the existence of a new feeling.”

These mesmerizing oddly satisfying videos seem to catch one's

attention because the human mind has a preference for symmetry, patterns and

repetition. Dr Anita Deák, a psychology professor at the University of Pécs,

believes that one of the explanations why people are saying that watching these

videos help them feel relaxed is because of something called mirror neuron theory.

Mirror neurons are motor neurons in the brain that become active when we see someone

doing an action,” she says.

Most people neglect their own needs by consuming themselves in social

media, where they compare their lives to complete strangers which has an effect on

your daily thought process. ASMR videos allow an escape from that part of social

media.

These videos give its viewer a way to cope with outside emotions and boredom.

This should remind us to take time to care for ourselves and our sanity, take some time to

watch oddly satisfying videos and see how it makes you feel.

Mahogany Burrus, Student at North Carolina A&T, author of “Bites with Mahogany” food blog.