Whenever I’m scrolling through my social media feed, particularly Facebook, I notice myself paying more attention to a certain type of video – DIY hacks, organising, cake decorations, mind-blowing nail art and painting for beginners. But why, when I don’t implement any of these in real life? Who am I kidding? I don’t even bake, I rarely do nail art (except for special occasions), I do a fair amount of organising just to prevent eyesores in my house, but never have I ever… ever tried DIY hacks at home or any basic painting. I’m still a sucker for these types of content and invest a fair bit of my time in a day gawking at these types of videos.
Ok, I’m not insane here, but have you watched the videos where the cake decorations are taken to a next level? I’d say the world is filled with super-creative minds and talents, and social media showcases these amazing skills for people like me to appreciate – right?
So I ask myself, I don’t do any of these – but I’m hooked on them… why? After much introspection, I realised that the answer is simple – it’s satisfying. You know, like how we pointlessly watch kinetic sand being moulded into certain shapes and then cut into perfect slices. It’s nothing but satisfying to watch a perfect cake being made and decorated, it’s satisfying to watch a perfectly-sized nail (fake nail) being transformed into a stunning piece of art, its satisfying to watch a train wreck house being re-organized into a clean and clear home, and best of all, it’s so satisfying to watch how a plastic bottle has a dozen other uses via a simple DIY job.
Jaw-dropping physical makeovers, 2-minute hairstyles which I forget how to do once the video ends, how to upcycle your clothes (I don’t even bother to wear them), and the many ways to make the perfect egg and cheese sandwich – all these are subsets of satisfying videos.
I mean, come on – the way Bright Side gives you all these brilliant (some not-so-brilliant) ideas to transform items, food, clothes, etc., is purely for content purposes. At times, it looks like they’re trying so hard for their content to be made viral and showered with admiration for their out-of-the-box ideas.
Some ideas are truly whacko, because it’s obvious no one would ever try to emulate that. Maybe they want to get Khaby Lame’s attention? Well, who knows.
The video below shows some useful daily hacks to make your life better or fix imperfections. The hack at 2:24 is where you’d use red nail polish to cover up a scratch on your red car. No way! And at 8:20… err, I would never keep money inside my laptop disk reader, because if I need emergency money, am I supposed to open up my entire laptop bag, remove the laptop and open the disk reader? Bad idea.
All I’m trying to say is that these videos ‘look’ very satisfying, because they make things work so well. At times, I watch just to see just how creative people can get (no matter how bizarre). Fascinating, actually.
Ironically, instead of satisfying my OCD impulses, these videos test my patience – and I like it. How so, you may ask? This video in particular can make anyone cringe, even the happiest kid on the planet! As you can see, the video is more than 20 minutes long, and the process is pretty simple – she lifts the cup, and the layered decorations fall over the cake. Wonder why the video is THAT long? Because she repeats herself saying the same thing “When I lift this up, the icing will fall onto the cake” for like 50 times! I wouldn’t torture you to make you watch the entire thing.
The comment section is brutal enough for the content maker(s) to know that their video is nothing but lame, a complete waste of time, full of nonsense and a rock-solid failure. In the end, the decorations are disastrous and the idea is a pure goof! After realising how I wasted 20 minutes watching something entirely ridiculous, I somehow feel consoled by the mere fact that 20 million others watched it, just like me! Bingo, there comes a huge sense of relief.
So if you’re someone like me who watches these videos because it gives you a sense of satisfaction, go ahead! But hey, I learnt my lesson from the 20-minute cake video that I should at least be watching something that benefits me, somehow. Our time invested on social media should be accounted for. Watch a Ted Talk, learn new skills, discover home-based business ideas, or explore the many things the colossal amount of content online has to offer.
