A YouTube creator is attempting to livestream himself in solitary confinement for a month to test whether he ‘goes insane.’
Norme is a content creator who has gone viral for his shocking stunts, such as staying up without sleep for 12 days.
Now, he has locked himself inside a small storage area with nothing but a mattress on the floor to see if his sanity can survive a month in total isolation.
And to make the challenge even more difficult, he plans to spend the entire time in total darkness. A camera mounted on the ceiling provides viewers with 24/7 live footage of the stunt.
He is also earning some revenue by asking viewers to pay him to preform different challenges.
For $5, he will do a handstand, $20 for 15 minutes of wearing a straightjacket, and $50 for one hour of wearing mouth tape.
At just over 100 hours into the experiment, he has already started exhibiting strange behavior, issuing concern from his over one million subscribers.
A YouTube creator is attempting to livestream himself in solitary confinement for a month to test whether he ‘goes insane’
Norme began the livestream on October 16, and this marks day five of his isolation.
So far, he has been seen and heard rambling about ‘intergalactic aliens,’ making ‘demonic’ noises and standing with his forehead pressed up against the wall in a dejected stance.
‘He needs help,’ one viewer wrote in the chat as the clock passed 133 hours. Another viewer wrote, ‘STOP TORTURING URSELF FOR VIEWS!’
Solitary confinement takes a significant toll on mental and physical health, and can be as distressing as physical torture.
That’s because humans are highly social animals who need stimulation and interaction with other humans in order to thrive.
This practice is commonly used in prisons and jails throughout the US, and refers to the physical isolation of individuals who are confined to their cells for 22.5 hours or more per day.
At least 122,840 people are locked daily in solitary confinement in US prisons and jails, according to a 2023 joint report from the the watchdog group Solitary Watch and the advocacy coalition Unlock the Box.
A large body of research has shown that solitary confinement can cause or worsen anxiety, depression, paranoia, panic attacks, hallucinations, psychosis and self-harm or suicide.
And for people with pre-existing mental health conditions, extended periods of isolation can make their conditions worse.
As for physical health effects, people who endure solitary confinement have been known to develop chronic headaches, loss of eyesight, sleep disorders, weight loss, fatigue, heart palpitations and more.
So far, he has been seen and heard rambling about ‘intergalactic aliens,’ making ‘demonic’ noises and standing with his forehead pressed up against the wall in a dejected stance
Experts say that even a short time spent in total isolation can have a significant impact on a person’s mental and physical health.
These effects could explain some of Norme’s abnormal behavior. But some of his viewers are skeptical of the stunt’s authenticity, seeing this abnormal behavior as a performance.
‘Give bro an oscar for going absolutely insane,’ one viewer wrote.
What’s more, Norme’s experiment does not perfectly replicate the conditions of true solitary confinement.
He does leave the room occasionally, presumably to eat or go to the bathroom.
Additionally, he has text-to-speak messages turned on, which allows viewers to have their chat messages read out through a speaker for Norme and all other viewers to hear.
In true solitary confinement, prisoners are never allowed to leave their cells of their own volition. They eat, sleep and go to the bathroom all in the same place.
What’s more, they never have access to any form of communication from the outside world.
Whether Norme will be able to complete an entire month in his makeshift cell remains to be seen. One of his previous challenges, in which he tried to beat the world record for the longest time without sleep, ended in failure.
He remained awake for 264 consecutive hours. But the official record is held by a man named Robert McDonald, who stayed awake for a total of 453 hours in 1986.
Norme also attempted to break the record for the longest time without blinking in a previous video.
