I got talking to some friends recently about what kinds of entertainment we rely on when everything feels stressful, or when winter makes you shut down. We talked about great TV, and good movies, and good books. But we also talked about something I call "satisfying task YouTube."
A lot of this genre is about cleaning. In particular, it involves watching people clean extremely dirty old rugs with power washers and buckets of suds, going round after round until they uncover the rug's original color and pattern. And these things are quite intentionally marketed as soothing: There's a video called "6-Hour ASMR Rug Cleaning Marathon: Relax and Sleep to Satisfying Deep Cleans."
Maybe you prefer to watch someone clean an old car. Or a keyboard caked with mud. (For what it's worth, some online sleuths suspect that at least some of these cleaning videos are staged, but if people are going to that much trouble to fake cleaning a carpet, it tells you something about the genre's unexpected appeal.)
It doesn't have to be cleaning, though. There's also a whole category of restoring old things — an old laptop, an old gumball machine, a luxury handbag.
But perhaps nothing satisfies quite like the people on YouTube who clear drains. That's right: drains.
There is a gentleman who goes by "post 10" on YouTube, and some of his videos have many millions of views. One of the things he does is go out into a spot where the roads are flooded and use a rake or other tools to clear leaves and debris away so it can drain. (By the way, he says he has relevant experience and training and does not recommend random people do this — flood water is dangerous and gross, you can get hurt, etc.) I can't vouch for his processes and wouldn't try, but I can tell you that when you watch a flooded street gradually empty, and when you see that whirlpool start and the water is moving, it is, in its way, thrilling.
Thrilling?
Yes, thrilling. For me, it creates this fundamental sense that doing work can matter. A thing is not just a problem because it's a problem; it's a problem because something is wrong, and sometimes you can go out there and try to work on it yourself. And when you have the right tools and training to clear a flooded street, you can help your community and make things better for everyone.
Part of the appeal of these videos is just curiosity and suspense. Can he get the water flowing? Or in other cases, will they ever get all that muck off that rug that spent years outside? Will that old phone ever turn on?
It's also an optimistic genre, I suppose: Under all that muck, there is still a rug. If you clean off the rust and replace some parts, that phone or that laptop you gave up on might work. That beat-up purse might look beautiful again. It takes work, it takes an enormous amount of patience, it takes knowledge, and it takes some willingness to look at something that looks like it's wrecked and say, "Well, I'm going to try, anyway." That can be a helpful reminder.
Maybe it's wrong to call it "satisfying task YouTube." Maybe I should be calling it "quiet determination YouTube." Or "steely resolve YouTube." Either way, off to watch a guy pressure-wash a patio. I'm rooting for him.
This piece also appeared in NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter so you don't miss the next one, plus get weekly recommendations about what's making us happy.
Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Copyright 2025 NPR
