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Yes.

17 (39.5%)

No.

8 (18.6%)

You're fucking weird, MSH.

18 (41.9%)

Total Members Voted: 42

[MetalSlimeHunt]

So I've noticed that there hasn't really been much discussion of ASMR on Bay 12. With the deaths or inactivity or all my other threads, I figured it'd be worth bringing up.

So, some of you probably don't know what I'm talking about, some of you do, and a few of you may have already jumped head-first into this without reading my post and are having a colossal epiphany. ASMR is the coined term for a recently recognized (but as investigation has come to show, long-existing) sensory phenomenon not otherwise easily described. Typically spoken of as a positive tingling sensation on the head and/or limbs, ASMR is not usually experienced or willfully felt, but brought on through exposure to certain triggers. What exactly constitutes a trigger varies between people, but there are several commonalities that have been recognized. Frequent triggers include certain accents, the sound of specific substances being manipulated, acoustic reverberation, just about any social scenario that involves proximity to another person, Bob Ross (yes, Joy of Painting Bob Ross, if you ever inexplicably watched his show despite not liking painting you probably have ASMR) and most of all whispering.

You can find ASMR videos all over Youtube, but a decent place to start would be with the proverbial god of intentional ASMR, Ephemeral Rift. His videos are long, powerful, and encompass a range of subjects you would never expect in any context, not just this one. On the other hand, if you don't care much for intent (yes, that matters), perhaps this Japanese guy lacquering a wooden bowl would be more up your alley. He is but one among many to upload videos to the internet and one day be ambushed by the ASMR community due to unknowingly hitting triggers.

FAQ:
HOLY SHIT THIS IS AMAZING WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME/OH MY GOD THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN EXPERIENCING I'M NOT CRAZY AFTER ALL.
And that's why I made this thread. I'm sure I'll get this reaction from at least a few of you, that tends to be the case. Have fun and spread the word.
I don't get it.
That's alright, you might not. Not everybody experiences ASMR, for reasons unknown. On the other hand, people who are supposedly dead to ASMR occasionally start having it, so check every once in a while if you're desperate to know what this is like.
Hey, uh, MSH, isn't this thread breaking the rule against sexual threads?
If you're having this thought then you are mistaken. ASMR is not primarily seen as a sexual experience, and though there do exist people who have linked it to that they are a distinct minority. This is most likely to do with ASMR feeling good than any specific relation to sex. I don't want this thread closed either, so if you're of that stripe you should probably talk about it somewhere else.
Help, my favorite trigger isn't working/nothing is working!
You've burnt-out, which happens with ASMR like with most other sensory experiences. Don't panic, it is almost never permanent. Try searching for some more obtuse triggers or giving ASMR a break for a few weeks, and you'll most likely be back to having it as you always have. Try not to watch the same things over and over again either, that increases the likelyhood of burnout. I know that can be difficult when you've found one that works well, but them's the brakes.
So what is ASMR, from a scientific point of view?
Fuck-all is known about ASMR with scientific certainty. As it is both newly recognized and a highly subjective sensory experience, research is not exactly forthcoming. Eventually that might change, but for now ASMR is mostly an enigma that the community is trying to collectively unravel.
So I should post videos that work for me in this thread?
Yes, yes you should.

[Gunner-Chan]

Waaaiiit. So THAT'S what it's called? I've had that weird feeling in the base of my skull, along my forearms or my entire legs and oddly enough most commonly my lips and cheeks every now and then for as long as I could remember. I thought it was just some random way feeling nice presented itself.

I can't exactly say what triggers it for me at the moment but Ill certainly keep an eye out for whatever sets it off now.

[penguinofhonor]

One of my friends had this. I'm a muggle though.

[Frumple]

Yeah, that stuff. I've so far personally met two people (Including myself ) that can trigger the sensation more or less at will. Seems to be a not-uncommon (or at least not unknown) side-effect (?) of learning meditation, specifically the breath control side of it.

Since the point I was aware the thing had a name, I've always had the sneaking suspicion the effect is tied, probably strongly, to the whole chakra stuff. The sensation does have a notable tendency, from what I've experienced and heard described, to kinda' concentrate around th'areas of the body that tend to be associated with chakra points.

Though I'unno about not much discussion, MSH. It's usually spawned a page or two of discussion every time it came up, and it's came up a few times. More often than visual snow, I think.

[Frumple]

Eh, s'far as I've heard (and experienced) the sensation itself is pretty identifiable. Feels a lot like a weak static charge on your skin. Maybe a bit like your limbs waking up after falling asleep, but more muted and definitely not painful. If you've felt that, it's, well, that. It's tingly.

Mind you, as MSH's post notes, nobody really knows what the blazes the stuff is. It's entirely possible it's not one thing but a set of things, each with different causes but having similar symptoms. Kinda' like visual snow, haha!

[Frumple]

Pretty close to it, anyway.

[Bauglir]

I've been a big fan of this channel for a while. Works awfully reliably. Eye contact always seems to magnify the effect for me, and she's really consistent about that, although it does mean that it's less effective to use ASMR videos as background noise while doing other things. Still does help relax a lot, though.

[Criptfeind]

So this is a pleasant tingle based on certain sounds basically?

[Sheb]

Yeah, I think I've been feeling it, but I'm not sure it is ASMR. Very relaxing channel you posted Bauglir. Although relaxing isn't exhaustive, but I don't want to break any OP rule.

[Frumple]

So this is a pleasant tingle based on certain sounds basically?

Sound s'probably the most common trigger for it, anyway. Not the only one, though. I can personally trigger it just through a change in breathing pattern, and I've had it trigger involuntarily due both to visual and tactile sensations, beyond sound.

E: Though sound is probably the easiest trigger, for me. There's a definite subset of music that predisposes me toward tingling, ha.

[Criptfeind]

You're fucking weird, MSH.

Or, moreover, this is a thing now? Not as in like, a thing that happens, but a thing that people care about? In more then a scientific way.

This whole thing sounds to me the same as if some scientific revelation, probably important but ultimately not really and somewhat boring, came in how we feel, for example, feathers tickling us. And then apparently tickling oneself with a feather was actually a thing people did with enough regularity and numbers that MSH made a self tickling thread.

Edit: By the way, I have called that idea. The self tickling thread idea. If you steal it MSH I'm going sue the hell outa you. 

[Frumple]

It's ultimately not really important, no, just like visual snow* isn't except in edge cases. But yes, people do tend to care when they're suddenly experiencing mostly-inexplicable sensory experiences. No telling what it means on the neurological level, other than "Probably something", since actual research is still more than a little spotty.

Beyond that, it's generally reported as a decently effective relaxer, which is pretty much always going to be important in an increasingly high stress world.

But nah, not a thing now, per se. S'like I said, I'm pretty sure the sensation has been a thing folks have been caring about since... hell, if I'm right in the sensation being related to stuff on chakra theory, you'd be looking at something like 600 BCE at the latest. Stuff started being talked about at least as far back as the Upanishads. It just got assigned a more westernized name recently.

*Which I keep bringing up because they're really damn similar phenomena.

[Silfurdreki]

Ah, this stuff.

Personally, I've always had it and can more or less trigger it at will these days. Doing it too often in a short period of time will make the whole procedure suffer from the "burnout" you describe and make it harder to trigger for a while.

Semi-rarely I also get very powerful ones that almost makes me shake my shoulders involuntarily.

[Arx]

I can get something that sounds similar from things like fingernails on a slightly rough surface (plastered wall rough, not blackboard rough). Is that likely to be this? A whole bunch of those other sounds do push buttons, but... not positive ones.

[kaijyuu]

Particularly moving and compelling music gives me a tingling sensation. Dunno if that's what this is.