The science of why pet photos make you happier.
A short tour of the real biology, and a case for a kinder feed.
In 2020, researchers at the University of Leeds ran a small study. They measured blood pressure, heart rate, and self-reported anxiety in people before and after looking at photos and videos of cute animals for thirty minutes. The results, if you haven't seen them, are not subtle.
What the numbers actually say
- Average blood pressure dropped measurably.
- Average heart rate came down into a calmer range.
- Self-reported anxiety decreased across the board.
- In some participants, it dropped by as much as half.
Other studies have gone further. Interacting with pets raises oxytocin (the 'bonding hormone') in both the person and the animal, often simultaneously. Even just talking to a pet lowers cortisol - the stress hormone. This is, biologically, a two-way street.
Why this matters for a feed
Most social apps optimize for attention. Attention is usually highest on things that make you feel angry, envious, or afraid. You can see where this goes. You open the app, you feel worse, you close it, you come back.
A feed made of pet photos is optimizing for a different variable: regulation. Calm. The feeling of a heartbeat slowing. It does not, in the common sense of the word, 'engage' you - it soothes you, which is a different thing, and in the long run, a better one.
“We didn't build a feed you'll be addicted to. We built a feed you'll be glad to have opened.”
What we do with this at PetMeet
Two things, mostly.
- We don't promote outrage. We don't have a trending tab of conflict. The algorithm's reward function is 'kept looking at a pet.'
- We make it easy to leave. The app is designed for short, warm visits - closer to a morning paper than a slot machine.
We'd like your heart rate to drop a little every time you open it. That's a weird thing for an app company to optimize for. We're fine with that.
End of story.
