ASMR

ASMR videos are best enjoyed with headphones

A couple years back, I was searching online for ways how to structure a diary with blank pages. I came across one tutorial which explained everything that I had in mind. But the weird thing was, the girl explained it all using this strange whispery voice. For the life of me, I could not understand why she chose to talk this way. I do remember the video having the tag ASMR. I figured it was some weird internet hype and didn’t think much of it. Here is the online definition:

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a calming, pleasurable feeling often accompanied by a tingling sensation. This tingle is said to originate in a person’s head and spread to the spine (and sometimes the limbs) in response to stimulation. The stimuli that trigger ASMR vary from person to person. Some of the most common ones include whispers, white noise, lip-smacking, having a person’s complete attention (as in having one’s hair cut by a hairdresser), as well as brushing, chewing, tapping, scratching, and crinkling.

https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/asmr/

Years later, I came across the same term again, now in a sexual setting. This is where I started exploring.

Hot and Sexy

Back when Tumblr was still alive and thriving in showing adult content, I was a frequent visitor. I followed a lot of blogs, and I had a semi-active blog of reposted material. One of the posts I came across was from the now-defunct website moaningmen.tumblr.com. It was a link to a clip of Gaelforce (https://gaelforceaudios.com). I explored further and discovered he was an artist in creating sexual audio content. Not all his work was strictly ASMR at the time, but some of it was. I enjoyed listening to him, and I repeatedly listened to his meditations.

Hot and German

Over time I lost my interest in it, and I continued on with my life.
Somewhere last year, during one of my infestations with a German rockstar, I googled for ‘sleep meditations with German man.’ That was how I found ASMR Zeitgeist. I loved his guided sleep meditation, and it helped me fall asleep multiple times. I explored the rest of his videos, also the majority of English-spoken ones. His true ASMR content with only bubbling sounds, whirring, tapping, blowing was mesmerizing. And mind you, it was not at all sexual.
The purpose of these videos is to get tingles. Others describe it as a brain massage. I think I used to get these tingles too when I was younger when hearing certain sounds, but I don’t anymore. Not even with the best ASMR artists. But that’s all right. My mind is so busy, all the time, that it’s not a bad thing for me to focus on a series of sounds outside my mind. It really tends to calm me down.

There’s More Out There

Ever since finding ASMR Zeitgeist, I have also tried videos from other ASMR artists. One other that I really like is Fred’s Voice. He’s excellent at role-play and can be helpful to listen to when I want to focus on something more story like, while it’s no shame if I fall asleep. I once dozed off while he was talking about his favorite tea flavors. He has the most amazing ‘rude’ style videos too.
I don’t listen to female ASMR artists, even though there are many out there. The few I listened to made heavy use of mouth sounds, and if there’s something I cannot stand, it’s that. It can actually make me angry, and that’s not what I want in ASMR.
The community is really kind and friendly too. People commenting on the videos are very rarely aggressive or downgrading. Everyone is lovely and sweet and understanding, and that’s not something you often encounter on the Internet.

Part of My Life Now

ASMR is something I come back to regularly. It’s better at helping me fall asleep than listening to music. Sometimes it also works as a form of white noise while writing or researching. Oh, and ASMR Zeitgeist is the nicest dude also on social media. Even with +1 million subscribers, he takes the time to respond to tweets, and I mean, really respond, not just a generic ‘thank you.’
I tell everyone I meet about ASMR and how it helps me, though usually, I get many weird stares. It helps me, maybe it can help you too.
Or like a 15 yr old boy mentioned in the comments:
My mom walked in: what are you watching?
Me: Oh, nothing. Just a video of a man sliding two brushes over a fake doll’s head with a microphone inside of it.