Micro Selves, Music, Storytelling, and the 72-Hour Hijacking of Consciousness - Brain Bee Ideas - ICMPC18

In our neuro-affective-existential model, we understand that consciousness is not a fixed entity, but a movement of perception anchored in metabolic activation. Consciousness always arises within a Tensional Self — a temporary bio-affective configuration of body, mind, and feeling organized around a task or interaction.

Within this framework, music, storytelling, and even short videos or slogans function as Micro Selves - symbolic micro-activators capable of temporarily replacing the dominant Self and guiding our attention, behavior, and perception.

Music as a Micro Self

Music has the power to become a complete Tensional Self due to its temporal structure (beginning, middle, climax, and end). It can:

* Generate Anergias: contradictory emotional states that the current Self cannot metabolize,

* Activate emotional, interoceptive, and proprioceptive circuits (via the auditory cortex, limbic system, and prefrontal areas),

* Induce flow or fruição, providing temporal direction and somatic harmony,

* Include silences and pauses, which reconfigure the Self by allowing metabolic processing and return to baseline consciousness.

The pauses in music are crucial: they open gaps for internal integration and resetting the Tensional Self.

Storytelling as a "Consciousness Hijacker"

Engaging narratives act as vectors of emotional identification. When a story activates deep feelings (like justice, belonging, resilience), it can occupy the central Self for up to 72 hours, maintaining a residual neural pattern — an episodic memory soaked in affect. If it’s reinforced through social media, theme songs, quotes, or symbols, it can persist **even when detached from shared reality.

Thus, entire “narrative selves” emerge — filtering perception, anchoring identity, and hijacking cognition. Even if based on illusion or manipulation, they feel real.

TikTok, Shorts, and the Loss of the Self

Platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts are designed to activate Micro Selves in rapid succession. Each video:

* Triggers a micro-identity,

* Introduces a belief or emotional state,

* Leaves behind an unresolved tension (Anergia),

* Avoids metabolization by cutting off continuity.

This leads to fragmented consciousness — a person no longer inhabits a stable Self but drifts between micro-activations, losing the felt experience of their body and place in the world.

How Can We Manage What We Like and Believe?

Core Insight: Interrupt the 72-hour cycle.

When something moves you deeply — a song, a video, a post — pause and ask:

* “Does this activated Self reflect my actual body and context, or is it a simulation being reinforced?”

* “Was this experience metabolized in my body, or did it leave me in a reactive or restless state?”

* “Can I remain in silence and observe what still pulses in me — without external input?”

If discomfort or confusion arises, that content may be a hijacker, not a true expression of your inner being.

Research Proposal

For students and researchers:

A study using NIRS and EEG could measure the prolonged effects of emotionally charged music or narratives on brain activity over 72 hours. Specifically, we could analyze:

* Residual prefrontal and limbic activation,

* Coherence of microstate EEG patterns across participants,

* Cortical oxygenation in regions tied to affect, identity, and attention regulation.

This could reveal how certain contents create lingering Self-activations and how Micro Selves extend their influence beyond the moment of exposure.