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It's easy to get sucked into the gooey world of slime videos. They're pretty much exploding on the internet, and there are currently about 13 million slime videos on YouTube and three million #slime videos on Instagram. What's with the obsession?
Slime videos are just a video of someone making and manipulating homemade slime that's the consistency of Play Doh or Silly Putty. Some videos are instructional, and teach you how to make your own slime out of household items, like glue, contact lens solution, and baking soda. But others are just meant for watching someone stretch, squash, poke, jiggle, and twirl slime for the viewer. People have figured out the most gratifying way to smoosh the slime into a never-ending train of shapes, so watching the videos puts you into a trance — even if you're a grown up.
It may seem random to think that just watching slime videos could be interesting or even relaxing, but there is a scientific reason why people are so fascinated by them. Slime videos can elicit autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR, which is "a deeply relaxing and comforting feeling, usually accompanied by tingling sensations in the head," as Craig Richard, PhD, an ASMR researcher and founder of ASMR University, recently told Refinery29. In other words, ASMR videos are like a stress ball for your brain. Slime videos are textbook ASMR because they're repetitive, methodical, and include soft, crinkly sounds and slow motions.
Dip your toe — or fingers — into the most calming ASMR slime videos on the internet.
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