Summary

Teenaged Raina monitors the comments coming in online from her latest video upload to YouTube. The narration revealing that she prepares and publishes videos that are part of the trend promoting ASMR, or “an autonomous sensory meridian response, a tingling of the head and body in full relaxation that some people experienced from sounds and other stimuli” (120). As it describes Raina’s videos, the narration also reveals the nature of the sounds that many such videos include, including Raina’s. These include sounds like light scratching, whispery voices, telling stories, and gentle hand gestures.

As Raina monitors her comments, she reflects on how her conservative mother Carmen worries about their content, particularly about the fact that Raina’s videos show only her torso and not her head. Carmen also worries about how much emphasis Raina places on her breasts, with the...