{"id":17185,"date":"2018-07-09T09:10:55","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T17:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=17185"},"modified":"2019-09-26T09:51:55","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T17:51:55","slug":"the-pursuit-of-app-iness-can-tech-help-soothe-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/the-pursuit-of-app-iness-can-tech-help-soothe-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pursuit of APP-iness: Can Tech Help Soothe Anxiety?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may be presumptuous to state this but I will take a chance: I’m likely not the only one out there these days feeling the pull of anxiety. And thus I was motivated to take a personal journey to find relief from stress and anxiety by using technology, taking all of you along with me, as well as getting a little help from some friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some may find this idea counterintuitive — after all, some of our anxiety is exacerbated by things like the internet, looking at Twitter, the news, or high-stress video games. But technology is what we make of it, and how we use it, and there are plenty of clever tools out there that can actually help find calm frayed nerves.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, I got some recommendations from friends for what they do to help alleviate stress and anxiety, before doing my own exploration using a few of the more highly rated apps.<\/span><\/p>\n

ASMR\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

In my quest for new forms of relaxation, ASMR was recommended by my friend William, a professor in Game Education at Abertay University.\u00a0ASMR stands for \u201cAutonomous Sensory Meridian Response,” which refers to the sensation people get when they watch stimulating videos or hear sounds that cause what some refer to as \u201cbrain tingles\u201d that run through the back of someone\u2019s head and spine (or “head orgasms” as this Guardian<\/a><\/em> piece put it). Some find the feeling more deeply relaxing, and can even cause them to fall asleep.[–Read more on VOX<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

When I’d asked William how ASMR works, he wrote back:<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s a whole community. A cross between new age\/ambient aesthetics, speculative neuroscience, and an attempt to restore slower modes of attention. A lot of the ASMR artists work with triggers: special sounds meant to produce ‘tingles’ (experiences in the scalp, back, or other parts of the body), although a lot of ASMR listeners\/viewers use the videos and recordings to relax or sleep. One of the most interesting to me is a man who works under the name ‘<\/span>Ephemeral Rift<\/span><\/a>,’ who has created a cast of ASMR characters drawn from Lovecraft and other sources.”<\/span><\/p>\n