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    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Fake YouTube boyfriends lull you to sleep with ASMR

    Owen Dennis Riley, 17, has made a career out of role playing the world’s most sensitive, loving boyfriend on YouTube. The idea behind his videos is to lull insomniacs to dreamland with his  sleep-inducing persona.

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    KCRW placeholderBy Barbara Bogaev • Oct 10, 2019 • 1 min read

    Owen Dennis Riley, 17, has made a career out of role playing the world’s most sensitive, loving boyfriend on YouTube. The idea behind his videos is to lull insomniacs to dreamland with his sleep-inducing persona. He also uses elements of ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, to be extra comforting.

    In fact, there’s a whole genre of ASMR boyfriend and girlfriend roleplay on YouTube, not all of it geared towards insomniacs.

    • KCRW placeholder

      Barbara Bogaev

      radio journalist

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      Sarah Sweeney

      Vice President of Talk Programming, KCRW

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      Michell Eloy

      Line Editor, Press Play

    • KCRW placeholder

      Alexandra Sif Tryggvadottir

      Associate producer

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      Kaitlyn Wylde

      New York Times

      NewsHealth & Wellness
    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand