Ok so I was watching a video of a youtuber and he said that he experienced a very long REM period by leaving his phone playing a normal 30 sec tiktok video (hes not talking about binaural beats or anything of that kind) on loop while he fell asleep. And he claimed he experienced a ton of dreams which got more realistic and "psycodelic" as time went on. And he claimed that he could hear the tiktok video playing on the background while he was dreaming. And hes not like someone who practices lucid dreaming or anything like it. Is that possible? (btw he mentioned hes phone's volume was on max) (Oh and a detail I forgot to include is the fact the video looped on the background made him lucid by what he claimed was his whole dream period)
If you want to see the video you will need to know portuguese or spanish
(The interesting bit starts at 4:38)
It's certainly possible to us an outside audio source as a means to experience lucidity, this is known as the anchor technique, and this can happen whether one knows about lucid dreaming or not. For many, experiences like this can induce their first taste of lucid dreaming - as often this occurs under circumstances where sleep is disturbed in multiple ways, such as on a flight, while sleeping in a new environment etc. By serendipity, I was using this exact technique for my long Sunday nap this morning, using an audio track to maintain awareness. Anchor does seem to allow for longer periods of lucidity, as the constant reminder keeps one grounded and returning to a state of awareness. However, the longer lucidity experienced with Anchor is also due to the fact that in order to fall asleep under such conditions, one must already be rather tired, or experiencing REM rebound. The YouTuber in question was likely very sleepy, in desperate need of REM, and this is why they were able to sleep during the full volume recording - it wold also explain the long dream (as the mind is playing "catch-up"). It would be foolish to assume that it is a technique that can be replicated without the same circumstances, as for most, playing a track at this volume would simply lead to insomnia. So the principle is sound, however it seems that they have made a sweeping assumption based on a situation with other more important variables at play.
I’ll just add my two cents. I know Spanish, but Portuguese is a completeply separate language, and it’s not easy to translate on cognates alone. Though if I had to guess, the title says, “I discovered how to lucid dream using a cell phone”? Also, he talks quite fast in the video.
However, on the subject of “Is this possible?” I think it’s usually best not to discount other’s experiences, but rather add knowledge for understanding. This video seems to fall into the category of “YouTuber that covers lucid dreaming in a video on their large channel, but never discusses it again and may propagate twaddle.” I mostly agree with stumped slicken’s points though. It’s possible you will have to remove the video link in the future because it may contain twaddle.
Oh thank you
This seems interesting to say the least...
While I'm still somewhat of a "noob" on lucid dreaming, it does seem like it could have happened. I don't know Portuguese or Spanish, so, I couldn't watch the video to find out more, it seems like it could have been an unintentional WILD based on a few factors.
The first thing is that the TikTok was on max volume, meaning it the creator of the video was probably very tired right before they fell asleep. This adds to evidence that it could have been possible, since, if they were sleepy, they could have just zoned out into sleep land. There's also something called the "anchor technique" (I could be wrong with it being a technique but Daniel has a video about it on his channel. Essentially, you listen to something (music in most cases) while you're body falls asleep so you can "anchor" your consciousness to something to stay aware while you slip into dreams (I'm not sure of the scientific terms for this, so, someone else would probably be better to talk to if you want a technical definition of all of this). This seems like what the creator most likely did unintentionally, keeping them aware as they fell asleep.
The second thing is that the dreams got more vivid and longer the longer the REM cycle got. This seems pretty normal from experience, though, I don't have technical terms for it. I think the reasoning is that in REM, our brains are more active, so, the longer REM lasts, the more our brain has a chance to become more active to the point have having more "crazier" dreams. While that could be twaddle, I have heard and experienced longer dreams the farther into sleep I got. Also, time distortion is possible in dreams, so, that could have also impacted how "long" the dreams felt to the creator.
Another thing about the vividness of these dreams. In a livestream (I can't remember which one), Daniel suggested that the more stressed/anxious we are, the more bizarre our dreams are ((though lucidity drops, I think) and please someone double check my memory, I don't want to be spreading twaddle or twisting someone's words). Based on this, the creator could have had a very stressful day or was anxious due to the vividness of the dreams. As for the leaking of the TikTok sounds into a dream, that is definitely possible, as, I have had chatter from people in my house to sounds of my TV flood into my dreams, though, they are typically later in REM (right when I was waking up already).
All in all, yes, it absolutely seems possible, though, I am probably not the best source on this topic. My speculation is that, if true, the dreams were through an unintentional anchored WILD. Again, not the best source. There's a ton of explanations that I could come up with as to why this might have happened, but, I don't feel like that was part of the question. Would love to see other people weigh in!