Why Cat Videos are Good For You

You no longer need to feel guilty for spending half your morning looking at funny cat videos. In fact, it turns out that cat videos are good for us. Last year there were 2 million cat videos uploaded to YouTube, they garnered over 26 billion views – so it’s fair to say cat videos are here to stay and you aren’t the only one watching them.

According to media professor Jessica Gall Myrick you aren’t wasting your time by watching cat videos. In fact it can be quite productive on many levels to take a break from the daily grind and watch a few funny cat videos.

Jessica Gall Myrick is an Indiana University researcher and what she found is quite interesting. She survey 7000 people and found that watching cat videos on the internet increased their energy and positive emotions. Watching cat videos online can actually be productive.

Myrick said she felt compelled to look into the cat video phenomenon even though it doesn’t seem like a serious endeavor. With 26 billion views just last year someone is watching those videos and it’s probably safe to say it’s happening while people are at work. If so many of us are watching they videos what is their impact?

“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,” 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.”

What Myrick found was that watching funny cat videos helped to alleviate negative emotions. Even if people are watching these videos while working, to put off a task or avoid a project they appear to be able to better handle difficult tasks later.

Participants also reported:

• They were more energetic and felt more positive after watching cat-related online media than before.
• They had fewer negative emotions, such as anxiety, annoyance and sadness, after watching cat-related online media than before.
• They often view Internet cats at work or during studying.
• The pleasure they got from watching cat videos outweighed any guilt they felt about procrastinating.
• Cat owners and people with certain personality traits, such as agreeableness and shyness, were more likely to watch cat videos.
• About 25 percent of the cat videos they watched were ones they sought out; the rest were ones they happened upon.

So go ahead and take a few minutes from your busy to watch a funny cat video or two. You may just find you’re much more productive and happy because of it.