Making Sense of Relaxation in Digital Space: A Netnographic Study on Relaxation Music Commentary on YouTube

Abstract

Relaxation music is increasingly integrated into everyday life in digital spaces, particularly to facilitate sleep, calm the mind, and create a comfortable atmosphere. This study aims to explore how users describe and interpret their experiences of relaxation while listening to music and relaxation soundscapes on YouTube, how interactions among users contribute to shaping and expanding these meanings, and the contexts and purposes underlying their use of relaxation music. This study employs a qualitative approach using observational netnography to examine the comment section of a YouTube video featuring instrumental relaxation music accompanied by the sound of running water. The initial dataset comprised 39,061 comments and replies, which were subsequently subjected to screening, thread selection, adjudication, and reflexive thematic analysis. The final corpus consisted of 944 comments and replies across 183 threads, of which 780 were used as analytical evidence. The analysis identified four main themes: (1) Regulating the Self Through a Digitally Mediated Soundscape; (2) From Listening to Ritual: Relaxation Embedded in Everyday Life; (3) The Comment Section as a Social Infrastructure of Relaxation; and (4) Boundaries of Relaxation: Disruption, Mismatch, and Counter-Experience. The findings indicate that relaxation is not solely induced by music but emerges through the interplay of users, soundscapes, daily routines, social interactions, and conditions within the digital environment. Therefore, relaxation in digital spaces can be understood as a situated, relational, and contingent experience shaped by specific circumstances, social relationships, and contextual factors embedded in everyday life.