The Internet is for cat videos. Surprised Kitten has 64 million views and Best Cat Vines almost 30 million where as the 2014 State of the Union has 783 thousand views. Cat videos trump politics in number of views. If we have learned anything from the classics such as kitten vs. watermelon or Internet celebrities like grumpy cat, it is that the world has an obsession with cats in all shapes and forms.
There is something about watching a cat video that makes a stressful day fade into the background. A fluffy kitten hiding in a mailbox or a voice over with a cat “talking” in a funny voice can make anyone smile. But why?
A researcher in New Zealand published an interesting theory. We like cat videos because the cats don’t care that they are being filmed. If that sounds suspiciously like Michael Foucault’s theory of perception and the panoptican don’t worry, it is. Suddenly something fun and innocent just got real. The panoptican theory is that people act differently when they think they’re being watched. Cats throw off the theory by simply not caring. They leap after that Kleenex or fall asleep on the bookshelf if they’re being filmed or not. As humans we can catch a glimpse into that little self fulfilled world. According to Massey University’s Cats’ indifference a crowd-pleaser website cat videos are a way to escape those realities of daily life.
We live in a world where we are watched by our professors, other students and security cameras. It may be easy to turn into a goof ball in the privacy of your own home but on campus it can be much harder to act like that cute little kitten and let your emotions get the best of you. Cat videos give us a glimpse into the world of truly being yourself and not caring who watches.
So as you put those final touches on that paper and study for that last exam, take a minute to laugh at a cat video. Imagine that fuzzy feline is you, not carrying what the camera or human beings think. You won’t regret it.
