i would be fascinated to see somebody write/read a paper on the implications? relation? of asmr and its psychological stimulation of parasocialism or parasocial behaviours.
i was watching, probably, the best asmr i’ve seen to date and reading the comments because as per usual they complete any online experience, and i wasn’t surprised but intrigued maybe? to learn that the lady doing the videos dropped off social media rumoredly due to a stalker that became a threat to herself and family.
wackjobs can come with any job i suppose, because there’s stalkers all the time, but it got me thinking about a possible uptick in delusionally-fueled attachments to asmr vloggers.
the whole fundamental purpose of asmr is to tap into people’s brains and trigger certain areas for different results right? Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response is the whole name of the game.
so you have this person taking hours out of their lives to use as many methods possible to engage the camera and the person it plays as, bloggers going to great lengths to pretend to form an intimate and personal relationship with the audience for the purpose of eliciting an emotional, mental, bodily reaction. chills, anxiety or sleepiness, calm or just plain ~overwhelm~
on some level, in some people’s brains, that has to translate into the line getting blurred. it would sound stupid, if we didn’t have horrible stacked up evidence of people becoming strangely attached to celebrities who don’t even do half of what asmr bloggers do.
i love kpop, for instance, whole heartedly and am the biggest multi out there, but half the business is based on feeding into the unhealthy fantasies of viewers (i’m reluctant to even call these types of people fans.) kpop artists are banned and heavily discouraged from normal human behaviour and attachments all the time because of how it might make the people leeching onto them feel, which directly impacts sales and business. imagine being so pressed that another human being has found romance and love and happiness. absolutely unhinged. fucking bonkers.
so it stands to valid reason that the same would easily, easily, happen with asmr artists. right? idk, i’m just curious about it. it’d be interesting to delve further into
this is the link for the video, for any of you two random readers interested ♡
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F2wEf_alQzw