Experts Tell Why We Can’t Stop Watching Oddly Satisfying But Unusual Videos

All of us have been a victim of mindless scrolling. You think you’ll just turn your phone off in a minute but the next thing you know it’s already been an hour or maybe more. 

The genre of oddly-satisfying videos has become clickbait, from soap cutting to cleaning and organizing, they give you a satisfactory feeling. 

It might seem like a recent trend but it began in the 2010s itself. In 2013, subreddit /r/oddlysatisfying was established and by 2019, it had more than 2.6 million followers and it became a popular section in every other social media app as well. 

It didn’t take long before it became a trend. According to a report, every minute, at least one hashtag of oddly satisfying is posted.

But why are they so stimulating that you can’t seem to stop watching? 

Here are a few reasons why your brain is so indulged in watching them:

The ‘just right’ sensation

Psychologists describe the ‘just right’ sensation as a complete and satisfactory feeling we get after we’ve put things in order or cleaned our room. It gives a satisfactory sense of completion.

People with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) don’t get that sensation of finishing a task or the ‘just right’ feeling which is why they keep doing the task over and over again.

A study by researchers from Spain confirmed this. The researchers made two groups of people, one, in which there were people with OCD and another, in which there were people without OCD.

They gave them a word recalling task and cut them off before they completed it. This gave an unsettling feeling to the participants and a few participants with OCD even mailed the completed task just to achieve the ‘just right’ sensation.

When we see any sort of cleaning video, like the popular ear wax, or tattoo-cleaning videos, we get a sense of completion and our brain is driven to watch more and more of such videos to get that feeling again. 

Chemical releases in our brain

According to a study by a professor named Robert Colombo, such videos release serotonin and dopamine chemicals in our brain which bring about happiness. As per a report by Wired, the audios and visuals in these videos give a tingly sensation that helps people feel calm and relaxed. 

This helps people sleep more peacefully. Oddly-satisfying videos also help ease anxiety because of something called the ‘mirror neuron theory’ which says that even as an observer we get the same feeling as if we are the ones doing the task.

We feel like we are the ones crunching the slime in the video or we are the ones cleaning. 

Read More: Here Are Some Stress Relieving Instagram Videos You Can See To Get Over Lockdown Stress

Instant pleasure

Watching oddly-satisfying videos is free of cost, anytime anywhere and provides instant stress relief.

With more and more people falling prey to extreme stress levels and excessive screen time, oddly satisfying and unusual videos are an instant source of relaxation and you don’t even need to go to a doctor or get medication.

It gives you a lighter feeling compared to other things on social media which might cause overthinking and make you feel even more stressed than before.

Change in mood due to ASMR

ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. It is often described as a brain massage. It gives you a relaxing feeling. Oddly-satisfying videos often trigger such relaxing tendencies in us.

The founder of ASMR University, Professor Craig Richard, observes unusual and oddly-satisfying videos as another category of ASMR and says that it triggers and appeals to our brain. The hand movements or the light sounds in such videos give a ticklish sensation that starts at our head and moves down the spine. 

It changes our mood and relieves us of stress and anxiety. It is an instant solution for it. 

Next time you need to release stress, try watching some unusually satisfying videos. Dive in the aesthetic pleasures of ASMR and oddly-satisfying videos, they would give you the same pleasure you get when you eat chocolate, get sexually stimulated or get a notification too.

Image Credits: Google Images

Sources: The Wired, Lemonade, Bustle

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