Several people experience ASMR from reading – and you might get tingles from written ASMR as well! Even though ASMR is often triggered by auditive, visual, or tactile stimuli, it only takes one stimulus to trigger your ASMR – one that might not be necessarily categorized, such as reading.
Think about it: you can get moved to tears when you finish reading Flower for Algernon; your heart will race with excitement as you read the final chapters of Moby Dick; you can laugh until tears run down your face with Slaughterhouse 5; you can end up completely bewildered with Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.
It would be fair to assume literature can trigger your ASMR. Not only literature but any written prose as well! Plenty of ASMR enthusiasts have reported experiencing ASMR by reading prescriptions, random text found online, and many other things.
How can you get ASMR from reading?
You’ll have to treat written ASMR like you would any other trigger – you have to try it! If you are a well-seasoned ASMR veteran, you probably know what to do: gather several pieces of text and find a relaxed place to read them.
You can treat written ASMR as you would auditive triggers. For example, some people prefer whispers instead of soft-spoken voices; for other people, it’s the other way around. Maybe you will get ASMR from poetry, or perhaps it’ll be from short stories.
There’s a high chance you will feel ASMR when you are invested in a story. In that case, you need to look for a novel – a novella will probably work as well – and read until ASMR takes over in a specific moment.
Even though you might be able to get ASMR from simple, everyday things like an internet post, it’s more likely that you will experience ASMR from a moment in a book – but you should try both and check what works for you!
Are there any written triggers words?
One would assume trigger words work the same way in written ASMR than they do in auditive ASMR – but there’s no information on this yet. You might get ASMR from specific written words alone, but you will probably get ASMR from bigger pieces of text.
If you find out about written trigger words, make sure you let people know! That way, we all will be able to try and enjoy them!
Is it ASMR or is it Frisson?
There’s a caveat when it comes to written ASMR: do not confuse it with frisson. ASMR produces tingles and relaxes you, up to the point where you might fall asleep. Frisson, in contrast, can produce goosebumps and tingles, along with excitement.
For example, if you are reading something and tingles begin running down your spine while your eyes start to feel heavy, that’s ASMR. On the other side, if you read something and you start to feel your heart race, goosebumps along your arms, and a sense of excitement – it’s frisson.
You cannot get relaxed from frisson – an opposite effect will happen. It’s not a bad thing, it’s as incredible as ASMR! But it won’t relax you as ASMR would do.