A Brief History of ASMR

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[HarbekVideos]

This is the first time I've actually understood what ASMR is. Until now I've just... heard it and been like "...so... is it like... calm whisper radio (Which, thanks McElroys??)

[Alstor_HO]

As someone who experiences ASMR and watches ASMR videos daily to calm my nerves, this is PERFECT! A lot of other channels either pass it off as some sort of weird fandom or assume that it's just whispering into a microphone and role-playing. You took the time to list off all the types of ASMR videos, how it began as a subculture and the pioneering videos that led to today's ASMR that I didn't even know about. Plus, you've even got actual ASMR videos by YouTube creators, which I haven't seen any other channel be able to do! Thank you so much for making this.

[jacq]

polygon is an entertainment website so they don't Just do video game content. i think y'all need to stop yelling

[NoName-qmhb]

i'm so glad you actually go into the tingling and scientific aspects as opposed to "it's just nice slow sounds and weird rp", because it feels kinda bad to have people misunderstand it so fundamentally

[largehenne]

Ephemeral Rift is my favourite Asmr artist and he's so underrated. It put a large smile all over my face, when you used a clip of him!

[iamnotawizard]

EZEKIEL! EZEKIEL WHERE ARE MY TRAINING CARDS!

[kyugull]

It's not always just the head and neck, actually. Some people report tingles in their arms, legs, back, or even their whole body. It's a really weird, wonderful thing.

[emberchord]

I have synesthesia and I like sounds of rain but those asmr voices creep me out, I get the shivers listening to that

[tobylarone]

This is what happens when Griffin leaves for a week.

[zeketerva]

A lot of ASMR stuff gives me just this absolutely horrible tension in my shoulders and upper arms, sometimes spreading up my neck and even into my face, and often down the rest of my arms and sometimes into my chest, sometimes making my lungs tight. It always triggers a lot of anxiety and a bit of flight or fight, often turning to fight if it goes on long enough or is a bad enough sound(like mouth sounds, and slow pebble rubbing in the beginning of the video).

It's actually been about 15 minutes since I watched this and I still can't really breathe lol There is some stuff that makes me super weak though; I love rain, thunder, rivers and creeks, soft rustly bird wings

[Sunny-zfcm]

That was actually beautifully edited tho

[batsherlockh]

I always had this feeling when I heard sand paper and metal against metal. I had never really understood why I felt that way, but when I discovered ASMR videos it all began to make sense.

[Cuix]

This sort of content isn't what I've come to expect from Polygon, but I really, really like it and want more.

[mylahobbit]

I had no idea that synesthesia was linked with ASMR! My mom and I both have synesthesia (differently - she sees colors in response to sounds but for me the colors of sounds are just in my head), but ASMR videos tend to produce sounds that have Very Bad Colors - the pickle crunch video being the worst offender. However, I need white noise to fall asleep because of my insomnia, like rain sounds or podcasts (lookin at you Griffin), but more specific ASMR stuff just skeezes me out because of the way the sound looks in my head.

[CDMJDMHHC]

it really help sleep and makes me happy

[BreakstuffzMapping]

After 2 months, I have found all of the asmr clips from this video!

[saucewizard]

I started looking for ASMR type videos when I was in middle school to help calm me down and keep me from having tantrums. Lita’s massage videos are classics, loved those shits to death when I was 12.

[emmythemac]

Jenna this is so cool! You even got the supercut of some of my all-time favorite ASMR youtubers! I feel like a lot of the time when people try to explain ASMR and the community that has sprung up around it they don't always capture how incredibly creative and professional some of the videos are.

[patriotclint]

ASMR has been around for a long time. I personally experienced it for the first time in 1969 during my 7th grade history class. It was the day of our semi-final exams and our teacher (Mr Silvera) was passing out our mimeographed test papers that he had just printed from his mimeograph machine in the back room. The smell of the mimeograph paper combined with the sound of the paper in his hands was intoxicating as he slid each page of the test from the stack in his left hand and place it on our desk one page at a time. The soft sounds of the paper combined with the smells were incredible. I don't remember how many pages the test was but it was at least 5 or 6 pages. He did this for all his students, about 30 of us. It took him about 10 minutes to finish passing out the test papers before we could begin our test. By that time, I was ready to go to sleep! The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and the tingling sensation was overwhelming. I was even worried that something was wrong with me. But the relaxed state I was in made that worry of no consequence. I just let it flow and I felt great. I didn't know why but I didn't care. Anyway, that was the first time. There have been many times since then. It wasn't until around 2014 that I heard about ASMR and realized what I had experienced all those years before! Since then, I've watched many ASMR videos!

[drazzie]

i personally dont get tingles but those videos do make me very relaxed