We've all been there. You're snapchatting your best friend a hurt selfie (as per usual), and you start to aimlessly peruse the discover page. Scroll, scroll, scroll...BOOM. The words "Oddly Satisfying" appear. Subconsciously, your finger lingers over to this enticing title. You don't want to tap the screen, but it feels like you have to. Suddenly, you nosedive into an abyss filled with soap cutting, paint smearing, slime squishing, and ASMR. Now, you throw all of your plans out the window because that one click just decided your fate for (at least) the next hour.
I will never forget my first "Oddly Satisfying" experience. I had just thrown myself down onto my bed after a day full of school work, binge-eating rice crispy treats, and my daily dose of first world problems – ranging from spilling my coffee on myself to slamming my finger in my car door. I began conducting my normal social media routine – mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat – when something caught my eye. On my Instagram popular page, a sector labeled "Satisfying" appeared.
Obviously, feeling quite unsatisfied from my day, I clicked. Suddenly, an untouched bar of white Dove soap appeared in the center of the screen. Hundreds of tiny symmetrical squares were cut into the bar. I sat there wondering why the hell anyone would film a bar of soap, until a hand holding a box cutter appeared out of thin air. The hand then slowly swiped the instrument underneath each individual square. The squares rippled off of the block, falling like waves crashing in the ocean. As each piece hit the table, the soothing cacophony of clacks made the hair on the back of my neck stand. The chaos and the serenity behind the swift slice were, for lack of a better word, satisfying.
I began to explore more content from this page (@satisfyingvideo) and realized that the satisfaction was not limited to soap. I discovered that there is a whole community of people dedicated to finding satisfaction in THE most obscure acts. I then proceeded to put aside my piling homework assignments and explore the page for upwards of 3 hours (logically).
These days, I have stopped finding acts such as filming a car tire roll over a block of floral foam even the slightest bit questionable; it's blissful ignorance, of sorts. Yet after months of watching these videos, one question still seems to linger in the back of my mind: what exactly makes these videos so satisfying? Further procrastinating on my actual responsibilities, I have begun researching the science behind the videos. While you are watching these videos, the auditory and visual stimulus evokes feelings of relaxation, serenity, and even tingling. Also, they are the perfect way to put your mind at rest during a stressful week.
In conclusion, I would like to request that if you, said reader of this article, happen to be a satisfying post curator…put down the box cutters and let go of the slime. My GPA and sleep schedule will be eternally grateful.
