ASMR and emotional labour

For those of you that don’t know ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) is a ‘tingling’ physiological response and a relaxed state of euphoria, induced by sound. ASMR is often triggering by sound and otherwise mundane noises, including whispering, soft talking, typing, tapping, crinkling and scratching noises. My friend Anne Marie and I wrote a paper about it, if you’re interested in reading more.

The most important thing about ASMR is about connecting through sound, and reconnecting to the gentle and pleasurable spaces of life through sound, and I think this video from WhispersRed demonstrates this well.

Central to the possibility of connection, intimacy and pleasurable that ASMR affords is consent. This is particularly apparent in ‘personal attention’ videos. Personal attention videos are often styled around customer service interactions. Consent is present at every step of the video, videos often begin with a summary of what will take place, and at various key points, the next step is explained again, and consent sought for the interaction to proceed. This, I think, provides the viewer with a sense of security, safety and control, which only heightens the affective atmosphere of this particular type of ASMR video.

These customer service interactions are heightened versions of the IRL equivalent, focusing on sound. The interaction is highly personalised, relaxed and pleasant, they are interested in learning about you, your tastes and preferences. Whatever you want or need can be accommodated, no interpersonal effort is required on your behalf to sustain the interaction, it cannot be derailed or spoilt.

In these videos, ASRMtists are recreating and heightening the emotional labour (as per Hochschild) for their audience.

In many ways, the concept of emotional labour can be extended to the work of an ASMR YouTuber as a whole.

The purpose of ASMR is to make you feel good. It is the work of the ASMRtist to create an environment where the audience can experience ASMR, through sound, lighting, movement and appropriate affect.

The emotional labour is the job, is the point. Most jobs are (central core task) + (emotional labour); the genre of ASMR makes successfully performing and simulating successful emotional labour the central core task.

Through YouTube monetisation and sponsorship deals, the ability to perform emotional labour is commodified, and sold as a product unanchored from a ‘job’ (e.g. teaching, nursing, flight attendants).

When work becomes purely affective, how does this impact our relationships with our self? What happens with the production of affect becomes a job and what does it mean to become disenchanted and alienated from this type of labour?