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Short abstract

This study explores comfort-seeking as a socio-technical response to uncertainty. Comparing Victorian domestic retreats with contemporary “feel-good” digital content, it examines how platform architectures shape everyday practices of emotional refuge during periods widely narrated as crisis.

Long abstract

Can comfort neutralise uncertainty? Do we hide behind “feel-good content” much like Victorians retreated into domestic interiors during periods of rapid social change? What is the significance of comfort in turbulent times?

Rather than treating crisis solely as an objective historical condition, this research approaches it as a cultural and epistemic frame through which uncertainty is interpreted and managed in everyday life. It examines comfort-seeking as a recurring socio-technical practice activated during periods widely narrated as moments of disruption or upheaval. Drawing on historical accounts of Victorian pragmatic comforts (Crowley, 1999) and the emergence of “domestic bliss” (Sassatelli, 2007), the paper connects these earlier practices to contemporary forms of digital comfort, including the circulation of online “feel-good” content.

Just as nineteenth- and twentieth-century transformations — industrialisation, world wars, and economic upheaval — generated renewed attention to safety, domesticity, and emotional refuge, contemporary societies increasingly describe the present as a condition of “polycrisis.” Within this discursive environment, consumers turn to accessible pleasures and moments of emotional respite, from everyday “little treats” (WGSN, 2025) to uplifting short-form videos on social media.

Combining historical analysis with qualitative content analysis of short videos identified as “feel-good” by participants, this study argues that contemporary digital comfort — from cottagecore aesthetics and “digital hygge” (Barbour & Heise, 2019) to “anti-brainrot” content — represents a patterned cultural response to uncertainty rather than simple escapism. These practices unfold within platform architectures where algorithms and recommendation systems curate affective environments while simultaneously commodifying comfort within attention economies.