For some years now, videos of kittens doing cute have been a hit on the internet. Thousands of them are forwarded every day: cats with big tender eyes taking a bath, playing with a ball, cuddling with a baby … Why are these types of videos so viral?
Beyond the anecdote, some teams of researchers have decided to seriously tackle this striking phenomenon of popular culture and discover its ins and outs. Intuitively, you can think that the sight of these cute little animals helps us relax, disconnect and even secrete oxytocin and other hormones related to well-being. In 2015, a researcher from Indiana University (USA) published the results of a survey on this topic in the journal Computers in human Behavior. The researcher interviewed more than 6,500 people to explore their motivations for consuming these types of videos and to see their potential effects on users. He also tested a conceptual model that predicts enjoyment based on the relationships between procrastination, guilt, and happiness.
And there is the quiz of the question: procrastination. What the researcher discovered was that, indeed, watching videos of kittens improved the mood of the interviewees and brought them mental well-being. But, in general, the ulterior motive behind this activity is procrastrination. That is to say, it is not that we organize our daily time and reserve part of it for the activity: ‘watching videos of cute kittens’, but that, on a regular basis, we do it to escape compulsory tasks that seem more boring or overwhelming. Surely, if there were no such human tendency to procrastination, cat videos would not accumulate so many millions of views on YouTube.
A transitory satisfaction
In relation to this, many psychologists warn of the emotional risk of procrastinating too much. Although we distract ourselves from our goals with immediate pleasures such as watching a video of cute cats or checking our notifications on social networks, in the long term the loss of productivity and the feeling of wasting time cause us discomfort. So, if you like kitten videos, it is more recommended that you be an exception to the statistics and, instead of watching them in your work hours or doing other tasks, plan it as a separate activity and reserve part of your day to enjoy them without guilt or regrets.
