I have a confession to make— I never use Tik Tok, youtube shorts, or facebook reels. As a person with sensory dysregulation I find my nervous system is almost never ready for the tapping finger sounds, clinking, random flashes, and other gimmicks that are often there to get your attention in a short span of time. With misophonia, I find it incredibly frustrating that most tik tok videos have ASMR-style content with constant tapping, clinking, and crinkling.
I find longform videos on youtube to be less stimulating, with many youtubers in longer formats using less editing tricks or abrasive sounds. This is not all youtubers, but the select few I watch are mostly okay. This got me thinking… how do I, as a person with misophonia, prefer consuming content?
The safest way to consume content I’ve found are long-form articles like Substacks, blogs, and news sites. However, many of these sites have abrasive advertisements, so I say that with the caveat of having an ad blocker installed (that goes for youtube as well). As for short social media posts, while I find they are interesting, I do think that I am easily distracted by everything else going on on the feed. My nervous system seems to prefer content to be black and white, words on paper, with no bells and whistles—literally and figuratively. I do read reddit posts which I would say are somewhere between a written article and social media post.
I am curious how you prefer to consume content, both as a content-creator and a clinician with misophonia. I’ve left the comments open on this post too if you’d like to share the nuances, and have included a poll. I find it incredibly interesting how neurodivergent and sensory diverse brains process the world around them, so I’d love to hear your thoughts. As more of the world keeps telling me, “everybody wants video content!” I’m often left wondering if that broad statement applies to neurodivergent communities, or if it is just another instance of people assuming that their preferences are that of the rest of us. What do you think?
Shaylynn Hayes-Raymond, LCT-C is a Licensed Counselling Therapist-Candidate in New Brunswick, Canada. Shaylynn is the Director of The International Misophonia Foundation and Owner of Misophonia International. Shaylynn is the author of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy among other books, and offer counselling services in Canada and coping skills worldwide. You can learn more about Shaylynn’s counselling, coaching, and classes for sufferers of misophonia and clinicians here.
