Understand why cleaning videos are successful – 03/03/2024 – Equilíbrio

Watching cleaning and organizing videos is a hobby for many people. In some cases, the content is watched as a sensory control technique, because of the repetitive sounds, with the aim of relieving bouts of anxiety, depression and even chronic pain — this is what the famous hashtag ASMR, an acronym for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, indicates ( autonomous meridian sensory response, in Portuguese).

Whether for a taste for cleaning or in search of relaxation, this content has been a hit on social media with millions of views and likes, creating a very specific niche of influencers, ranging from housewives showing off their tidying tricks to professionals specializing in glass. buildings or carpet cleaning.

Digital influencer Bianka Oliveira, 20, from São Paulo, started recording in 2023 and went viral showing her cleaning routine at her house. The biggest success was cleaning the entrance to the house, in which she showed some accessories and how to optimize the use of water.

“I didn’t expect that I would get so many likes in such a short time. It was a surprise for me, to this day I still haven’t gotten used to the numbers”, says Oliveira. In just one year, the young woman became famous on social media and today has 325.6 thousand followers and 7.4 million likes on TikTok, in addition to another 53 thousand followers on Instagram.

“What surprises me most about this type of content is the way people interact. They support, give ideas for videos, they really like following the cleaning routine. Many people from outside Brazil appear questioning the cleaning we usually do here” , says Oliveira.

In the case of influencer Flávia Neix, who started producing cleaning videos three years ago in the interior of São Paulo, she was so successful that she founded her own brand of home cleaning products, Tudo Limpinho.

“We started making soap to help the Barretos Cancer Hospital. We worked for a year and raised funds to help the institution. After a while, the revenue started to become significant and the opportunity arose to build the factory. Since then, this It became a business, but we always continued to help the hospital”, says Neix.

She says she was surprised by the number of people interested in what she used to clean the house and that she didn’t imagine the videos would become so expressive. Her Tik Tok profile has 159.5 thousand followers and 1.7 million likes; on Instagram there are 47.9 thousand followers.

For psychologist Larissa Fonseca, a therapist with a cognitive-behavioral approach and specialist in anxiety, panic attacks, burnout and sleep, says that a disorganized environment affects mental health.

“Anxious or depressed people, when they are in a mess, feel more anxious, may have more crises and become more depressed. The external organization helps this internal organization.”

A member of the Brazilian Psychological Society (SBP) and the Brazilian Sleep Association (ABS), Fonseca argues that these cleaning videos can be a useful resource for those looking for tools to create positive environmental order.

“There is a relationship between the physical environment and emotional well-being. For many people, clutter can increase stress levels. They can find disorganization a reflection of their internal state”, he ponders.

Anyone who watches a cleaning video and relaxes experiences what psychologists call “vicariance satisfaction”, a term that refers to the feeling of pleasure generated when a person witnesses or imagines themselves in a situation. Fonseca says that when we watch a positive experience that someone else is having, we become emotionally involved with the other person’s achievements and experiences.

“When we watch a video of someone organizing their house in a very efficient way, we get this feeling of satisfaction, a feeling of contentment, even though we are not the one carrying out the activity. This happens because the person identifies with the success or competence of the person in the video, and they indirectly share feelings”, says the psychologist.

And if the hope that it is possible to do it marks the positive side, care must be taken not to keep the objectives just in the imaginary field, without concrete actions. Fonseca remembers that the first step might be to tidy up a single drawer.

On the flip side, when cleaning becomes a compulsion and consumes an inordinate amount of time, professional help should be considered. “If this organization interferes in a negative way in the person’s daily life, it’s time to seek out a psychologist to explore healthier ways of dealing with these feelings”, points out Fonseca.

Among the signs that something is wrong is the repetition of some behaviors such as being late for work to finish cleaning, noticing dirt everywhere and being very uncomfortable with it to the point of having to leave that space and even spend time too much watching cleaning videos. “It’s when I neglect other important responsibilities or have extreme feelings. An obsession, perfectionism, this changes the emotion”, says the psychologist.

Psychiatrist Bruno Pascale Cammarota, a doctor at the Rio de Janeiro municipal health network, says that the taste for cleaning videos is related to projections of achievement or a fresh start in the face of emotional or financial crises.

“It still has a lot to do with skills that people would like to have in their lives. It has a very symbolic meaning, cleaning our homes is a sign that we want to restart. Many have this desire, but they don’t exactly have the initiative and courage and these videos encourage a lot”, says Cammarota.

The doctor recommends, however, that people spend a maximum of three hours a day in front of screens, so that this content does not become repetitive behaviors or ruminating thoughts stimulated by technological dependence. The alert should sound when the lack of access to the virtual world starts to cause irritability, insomnia and even tremors due to withdrawal.

“The individual often starts to make that habit a priority in their life and ends up forgetting about other situations, spending hours watching videos on TikTok and ending up forgetting to take care of themselves”, warns the psychiatrist.

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