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Culture

What The Heck Is ASMR: A Crash Course

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PSU chapter.

Chances are, you’ve heard of ASMR, but you might not know what it stands for, what it is, or why the heck people watch it. For those of you who are wondering what ASMR is and why it has become so incredibly popular as of late, here is a quick lowdown on what you need to know about ASMR and the magically tingly feelings it can cause.

 

ASMR has become increasingly popular recently, with ASMR videos taking over the internet and gathering an extremely large and passionate online following. ASMR stands for “autonomous sensory meridian response”, this is basically the term given to describe the tingly feeling you get as the result of having your senses stimulated, mostly by experiencing specific sounds or visuals. Some people refer to this tingly feeling as a “brain orgasm”. ASMR videos are highly dependent on sounds and visuals that are produced for the specific purpose of stimulating viewers into experiencing tingles.

Once you dive into the online ASMR world you will discover that there are all different kinds of ASMR. Some forms of ASMR include categories like; tapping, scratching, brushing, whispering, soap cutting, and so on. On the other hand, some ASMR creations, like role playing videos can be very detailed, thought out and choreographed productions, focused on giving their viewers a totally immersive ASMR experience.

 

ASMR has become so popular in fact that some companies are starting to use it in their advertising! A good example of this would be Michelob Ultra’s Super Bowl ad that stared Zoe Kravitz whispering into a mic and tapping on a Michelob Ultra bottle. This ad that was aired during the 2019 the Super Bowl, has since garnered over sixteen million views on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXmlN9BAddg

ASMR has become so mainstream that W Magazine even has a whole Snapchat series in which it does ASMR interviews with a whole slew of super famous celebrities, including well known celebs like Margot Robbie, Jake Gyllenhaal, Cardi B, Gal Godot, Gigi Hadid, Jennifer Garner and many more.

 

People watch ASMR for a variety of reasons, with some of the major benefits being that it can help to reduce stress, provide relaxation and help you fall asleep. That being said, this has been your super quick intro to ASMR. If this sounds interesting to you go ahead and look more into it. Some people love it and for others it’s just not their cup of tea. So try it for yourself to decide whether you’re super into ASMR or think it’s totally weird.

Haley Deitz is a Senior at The Pennsylvania State University, pursuing an Advertising major with minors in Media Studies, Women’s Studies, and Digital Media Trends and Analytics. Haley is a contributing writer for Her Campus Penn State, whose dream job is still yet to be determined. Her hobbies include reading, writing, and being the best dog mom she can be.
Allie Bausinger is a Penn State University graduate who majored in Print/Digital Journalism with a minor in English. She is from "outside Philadelphia," which in her case is Yardley, Pennsylvania. Allie is looking for full-time employment in writing, editing, fact-checking, podcasting, and other areas of the journalism and writing fields.