Mindful Media on TikTok?

TikTok has a bit of a reputation for promoting, as the New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino put it, “lowbrow clickbait.” A recent conversation with Rewire’s Gretchen Brown, however, led me to explore a part of TikTok that might actually be good for you — the slow video genre on TikTok.

Following s-l-o-w-l-y in the wake of Norway’s Slow TV programming, such as the 2009 7-hour, real-time video of the train ride from Bergen to Oslo or, in 2016, the 12 hours capturing the tidal currents in the Strait of Saltstrumen, TikTok’s slow videos, although still “TikTok” short, are filmed at a meditative and reflective pace. It’s just as if you were there, slowly taking in the scene.

I’m an advocate of positive media psychology. My POV is that media isn’t going anywhere so we might as well figure out how to use it well. Social media, in particular, gets a bad rap most of the time. However, TikTok’s slow videos can have the same positive effect as the ambient videos or the ambient relaxation environments for health care facilities produced by the C.A.R.E. channel. Most social media content is consumed rapidly, on the fly, as people scroll and swipe. This warp-speed pacing stands in stark contrast to the intentionally slow videos of hiking or scanning the horizon. TikTok videos run on a loop, so they are both short and infinite.

Slow videos can feel therapeutic because they capture and honor the process of life in real-time. Like Instagram, they can be used to document ordinary moments, but unlike Instagram, they are beautiful but not contrived. The slowness creates a visceral experience, a sort of visual version of ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos.

Media has historically truncated and condensed narrative arcs to increase emotional engagement and interest in a short amount of time. Slow video directs your attention to the details and forces a slowing down of cognitive and physical processes, similar to the concept of mindfulness.

Mindfulness, the ability to be present “in the moment,” increases appreciation and enjoyment. Positive emotions are powerful antidotes to stress, anxiety, and frustration and have an overall positive impact on wellbeing. Positive emotions can also enhance other aspects of life such as increasing productivity, creativity, and resilience.

Slow video also increases the sense of presence a viewer feels. It becomes an immersive experience—the brain’s version of virtual reality. In slow videos, the body can respond to the physical stimuli of soothing music and rhythmic activities such as a boat rocking or water flowing. Rhythm affects biological processes. It can inhibit fatigue, as well as moderate pulse and respiration rates, external blood pressure levels, and psychogalvanic effect which is debatably argued to reflect emotion and mental activity.

Slow videos are often filmed professionally in remote and beautiful locations—aesthetics are certainly part of their appeal. While being stuck inside during COVID can make hiking and travel somewhat more interesting, the overall motivation to watch slow videos is likely to be motivated by their ability to engage with the senses and moderate stress and anxiety.

TikTok received considerable negative attention for allegedly suppressing “ugly” in favor of “conventional attractiveness.” Conventional attractiveness is one thing if it’s promoting unrealistic images that are internalized as desired social norms; it’s quite another if we’re talking rolling hills and verdant vistas. Empirical studies suggest that art and aesthetic appreciation, such as we might feel toward sunsets, moving water, or majestic snowy peaks, affect cognitive and emotional states in ways that can promote physical and psychological well-being. The only potential downside to watching slow videos is if the camera pans that capture movement makes you motion sick. Sadly, I speak from experience here.

Some have equated slow videos or ambient video with the slow, low energy pace of shows like Emily in Paris or Bridgerton. While Bridgerton’s eye candy may be a seductive and relaxing form of escapism, it is constructed of interwoven narratives, however predictable, sedate, and slowly paced. Narratives generate energy through conflicts and resolutions, no matter how minor, and our identification with characters who display independent motivations and actions. Any narratives within the slow videos are supplied by you, the viewer, and your projections of what it would be like to be in the scene. Watch Bridgerton or Emily to be entertained but watch slow videos to be soothed.