Why #oddlysatisfying videos are so oddly satisfying

Watching videos of different tasks being completed is oddly satisfying and reminds us of pre-lockdown life, says Annalee Newitz

By Annalee Newitz

10’000 Hours/Getty Images

IT STARTED innocently enough, with a friend telling me about the Peregrine Nest Cam at the University of California, Berkeley. High in the campus clock tower, under a webcam’s watchful eye, some biology researchers had arranged a box of gravel for two peregrine falcons and their three floofy, awkward babies. I couldn’t stop watching. I’ve spent weeks following along as the chicks shed their down, fought for chunks of meat and screamed at the top of their lungs. Now, they are almost ready to fly and I feel a deep sense of accomplishment.

But why? I didn’t …