The Internet phenomenon of watching cat videos, from Lil Bub to Grumpy Cat, does more than simply entertain; it boosts viewers’ energy and positive emotions and decreases negative feelings, according to a new study by an Indiana University Media School researcher.<\/p>\n The study, by assistant professor Jessica Gall Myrick, surveyed almost 7,000 people about their viewing of cat videos and how it affects theirmoods<\/strong>. It was published in the latest issue of Computers in Human Behavior<\/em>. Lil Bub’s owner, Mike Bridavsky, who lives in Bloomington, helped distribute the survey via social media.<\/p>\n “Some people may think watching online cat videos isn’t a serious enough topic for academic research, but the fact is that it’s one of the most popular uses of the Internet today<\/strong>,” Myrick said. “If we want to better understand the effects the Internet may have on us as individuals and on society, then researchers can’t ignore Internet cats anymore.<\/p>\n “We all have watched a cat video online, but there is really little empirical work done on why so many of us do this, or what effects it might have on us<\/strong>,” added Myrick, who owns a pug but no cats. “As a media researcher and online cat video viewer, I felt compelled to gather some data about this pop culture phenomenon.”<\/p>\n Internet data show there were more than 2 million cat videos posted on YouTube in 2014, with almost 26 billion views. Cat videos had more views per video than any other category of YouTube content.<\/p>\n In Myrick’s study, the most popular sites for viewing cat videos were Facebook, YouTube, Buzzfeed and I Can Has Cheezburger<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Among the possible effects Myrick hoped to explore: Does viewing cat videos online have the same kind of positive impact as pet therapy? And do some viewers actually feel worse after watching cat videos<\/strong> because they feel guilty for putting off tasks they need to tackle?<\/p>\n Of the participants in the study, about 36 percent described themselves as a “cat person,” while about 60 percent said they liked both cats and dogs.<\/p>\n Participants in Myrick’s study reported:<\/p>\n Overall, the response to watching cat videos was largely positive.<\/p>\n “Even if they are watching cat videos on YouTube to procrastinate or while they should be working, the emotional pay-off may actually help people take on tough tasks afterward<\/strong>,” Myrick said.<\/p>\n The results also suggest that future work could explore how online cat videos might be used as a form of low-cost pet therapy, she said.<\/p>\n For each participant who took the survey, Myrick donated 10 cents to Lil Bub’s foundation, raising almost $700<\/strong>. The foundation, Lil Bub’s Big Fund for the ASPCA, has raised more than $100,000 for needy animals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Indiana University media release: If you get a warm, fuzzy feeling after watching cute cat videos online, the effect may be more profound than you think. The Internet… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,349,333,348],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17994"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17994"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17995,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17994\/revisions\/17995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"tablet](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/tablet_computer.jpg\")
<\/a>If you get a warm, fuzzy feeling after watching cute cat videos online, the effect may be more profound than you think<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n