ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response)-- Anybody aware of it?

[Shareefruck]

Okay, so this is completely random and off topic (and out of context, it probably sounds very creepy), but learning about it has given me such a surreal feeling that I just wanted to throw it out somewhere.

For as long as I can remember being conscious, I've regularly and randomly gotten this bizarrely specific sensatory response, that, for more than two decades, I had automatically assumed was something that everyone else got as well (but was never spoken of because it's so minor and insignificant). However, recently, I found out that's a relatively newly discovered/acknowledged phenomenon (that doesn't occur in most people), and that the medical community has only started to research and attempt to figure out.

It's called ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response). Apparently some people, like myself, will regularly get this spreading, tingly, goosebumpy mild-brain-orgasm-like sensation in the back of their head/neck/shoulders whenever they observe people doing certain mundane tasks in a careful/gentle/meticulous manner (it's also triggered by the quiet sounds that come from this). For example, it can be triggered when being read a story, watching a puppet show, watching someone paint, or knit, or fold bits of paper, or pray/chant, or carry out physical rituals like vinyl/tea enthusiasts do. It can be such a nice, relaxing feeling that I find that, whenever I come across it, I'll try to replicate it and stay in it for as long as I can. As a crazy example, sometimes I'll channel surf and find myself entranced when I land on Antiques Roadshow, despite having zero interest in its dry/uninteresting premise, just because watching someone with a soft-spoken voice describe the history of and carefully handle antiques constantly gives me this weird/addictive/tingly relaxing sensation.

Apparently, the first record of it being mentioned is as recent as 2007, and it only started being peer reviewed in 2013, but I've been getting it since the early 90s.

Here is the wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response
And for completeness' sake, here is the thing that turned a lightbulb in my head that it was a real thing (Would I Lie to You is a random guilty pleasure of mine): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW0JpMn9VcU

My mind is kind of blown right now by how weird this is, and I'm sure there must be at least one or two of you who have always had this feeling as well, but either don't realize that it's not shared by everyone else, or have never seen it defined/diagnosed. Pretty much everyone I've told this to in person reacted with utter confusion/creeped out disbelief.

Apparently, there's a whole community dedicated to it that I personally find super creepy and I don't like being associated with at all. It's full of videos of awkward people creepily attempting to trigger the sensation in the viewer by whispering and role-playing mundane tasks in a way that feels very unnatural and socially creepy (they almost feel like David Lynch dream sequences)

Super weird but fascinating phenomenon to me.

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[Carolinas Identity*]

user: "fairy char" on youtube is very good at this

as is bob ross

 

[Pharrell Williams]

i ain't readin all this **** lmao but yeah i have asmr who doesn't nerd

 

[Shrimper]

It's weird and stupid

 

[Siamese Dream]

Just another way for people to get easy views on youtube

 

[McRpro]

I've gotten it my whole life. I always just called it my 'fuzzy head'. The first Facebook group for it was started around 2009 and I was one of the first members. It's hard explaining it to people that don't get tje sensation but damn it's just great.

I've always said if there was a drug that induced the same sensation it would sell. The YouTube clips dont usually trigger it for me. I cant be thinking about getting it..

Quick story: When i was a teen working at a gas station one of our regulars was a guy that would constantly smack his gums when he talked. It would kick in my ASMR everytime. I loved hearing that guy talk and would try to keep a conversation going as long as possible.

 

[PaGEEsBack]

Simply a case of the 'individual' unknowingly tapping into the 'over-mind,' or the 'collective conscience' as it were. Same idea as sharing the celebratory tingles with your favorite player as he scores the game winning goal or feeling the pit in your stomach with those who suffered the newest tragedy showcased on CNN. Even the uncreative may share the spark of creativity - because we're connected in ways we can't even begin to understand. 1<3 and such.

It's what the illuminatus doesn't want you to know.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Y'all are weird.

 

[Yarborough]

Damn, I think I might have this to. Jeez, I really thought nothing of it till now.

 

[Shareefruck]

I've gotten it my whole life. I always just called it my 'fuzzy head'. The first Facebook group for it was started around 2009 and I was one of the first members. It's hard explaining it to people that don't get tje sensation but damn it's just great.

I've always said if there was a drug that induced the same sensation it would sell. The YouTube clips dont usually trigger it for me. I cant be thinking about getting it..

Quick story: When i was a teen working at a gas station one of our regulars was a guy that would constantly smack his gums when he talked. It would kick in my ASMR everytime. I loved hearing that guy talk and would try to keep a conversation going as long as possible.

Yeah, me neither-- which makes seeing them nothing but creepy to me. Strangely enough, I was watching a Doug Yule interview the other day that I was getting it from.

It's one of those things that sound so weird to people who don't have it, that's it's tough to ever bring up. Christ, I thought I had a tumor or something the first time I realized nobody else I knew had it.

 

[CaptainBenn]

r u serious, I thought it happened to everybody?
it happens mostly when I hear something frightning like a bad story or something risky and you say you like the feeling: I HATE IT it feels like something bad is going to happen, as if my brain wanted me to notice something

 

[Shareefruck]

r u serious, I thought it happened to everybody?
it happens mostly when I hear something frightning like a bad story or something risky and you say you like the feeling: I HATE IT it feels like something bad is going to happen

I think that's different. Isn't that just fear?

Please tell me everyone else actually feels fear. Now I don't know what to think.

 

[CaptainBenn]

I think that's different. Isn't that just fear?

Please tell me everyone else actually feels fear. Now I don't know what to think.

no its not fear lol its like a spreading lightning sensation at the back of my head for a few seconds, it can happen randomly but mostly when hearing about bad things, I associate it with something bad so its not pleasant
I always thought it was my brain trying to tell me something lol

lets say we are discussing about apocalypse, I aint even scared but its gonna happen

lets say I watch How to make a murderer, its gonna happen

 

[PaGEEsBack]

'Feelings' are only but an illusion. What is it really to 'feel' but to feel another?

 

[Kyle93]

I watch them every night before bed.

 

[PaGEEsBack]

A simple thought on life from JayGeePagEE: everything you have ever experienced; everything you have ever seen, heard, felt, thought, imagined, or pondered - whether it be about yourself or another - all of 'it' runs through a single point in time&space&being. Now multiply that over everyone you 'know' and you start to get a small hint of the big picture.

 

[John Price]

I watch them every night before bed.

Could have sworn that girl that you keep posting from youtube is named asmr.

 

[Siamese Dream]

WOULD Taylor Darling

 

[Juzmo]

Can understand why people enjoy them, but they don't do it for me enough to keep me listening for longer periods of time.

 

[Kyle93]

Just another way for people to get easy views on youtube

WOULD Taylor Darling

get out of here.

 

[CycloneLaunch]

has reading anything on this forum ever triggered the sensation?

 

[Shareefruck]

has reading anything on this forum ever triggered the sensation?

No, absolutely not-- I don't think it really has that much to do with the content of what's being said-- it's more the sound of the voice, the personal attention, the hesitation/pauses/behavioral ticks, and sometimes also the sound of the physical activity being performed. It's like a version of nails on a chalkboard, but in a good way. Wooden blocks lightly clinking together or being scratched seems to instantly trigger it for me.

Edit: Eww.... Youtubing ASMR gives you the complete wrong impression of what it is. They make it seem like some creepy Bronie sex fetish thing.

 

[irunthepeg]

I was watching videos that triggered ASMR before that term became prevalent. Always wondered why I would be filling out a form at the dentist or doctor my brain would melt with tingling sensations.

And yeah it was cool on YouTube for a bit at the beginning but now it's just cute girls making weird roleplay videos that guys all obsess over. Bob Ross videos are a good trigger of it for sure, but nothing like being in the real world and someone watching me fill out (or filling out for me) paperwork.

I remember when I first started seeing comments on certain YouTube videos about the term and then seeing that Wikipedia page being marked for deletion because it wasn't legit enough though.

 

[John Price]

Asmr darling

 

[John Price]