Life hacks are as much a part of YouTube as cat videos and make-up tutorials. Life hacks – or 5-minute crafts – are creative tricks that are supposed to make our lives easier. But do life hacks really work and why are the videos so popular on YouTube, Insta, TikTok and the like? Sebastian Meinberg wants to find out for PULS Reportage. Fascination with life hacks Flamethrowers or DIY popcorn machines – the internet is full of viral life hack videos and the more dangerous and spectacular the life hacks are, the more viral the videos tend to go. But why do life hacks fascinate us so much, even though we often know full well that some of them cannot work at all or are even fakes? To find out, Sebastian talks to a media psychologist. He explains that life hacks trigger a similar fascination as pornography: We find life hacks exciting, stimulating and they are simply fun. It is less important whether the life hacks are really practical or work. It's more about the excitement and surprise that fascinate us so much about life hacks. Life hacks challenge our brains and are also quick and colorful - perfect for social media. Self-experimenting with life hacks Sebastian Meinberg naturally also wants to test some life hacks himself to see if they are suitable for everyday use. The life hacks include a DIY vacuum cleaner made from an old sock, a PET bottle and a hairdryer. Using another life hack guide, Sebastian builds his own power bank from an old USB charger, a few cables and a battery. You can see whether Sebastian Meinberg's life hacks are really any good here in the PULS report. What if life hacks go wrong? Spectacular life hacks in particular are often quite dangerous. But who is actually responsible if something happens when you copy the life hacks? The companies behind the big life hack channels on YouTube are getting out of the affair by classifying life hacks as entertainment and not as tutorials that are actually meant to be copied. And platforms like Facebook do not see themselves as responsible either, as they would remove dangerous content that encourages risky viral challenges from their platform. In this way, they shift the responsibility onto the users. From a legal point of view, however, this is a gray area and it must be decided on a case-by-case basis who is ultimately to blame if something actually happens. Have you ever watched life hack videos and then tried them out? And if so, did the life hacks work? Write your experiences in the comments! Editors: Maria Christoph, Miriam Harner, Katja Engelhardt, Claudia Gerauer Camera: Chris Hofmann Editing: Maxi Weiß Graphics: Daniel Großhans #PULSReportage #LifeHacks ----------------------------------------------------------- PULS REPORTAGE ON INSTAGRAM Memes, get involved, even more info: Nadine takes you behind the scenes of PULS Reportage on Instagram – and Ari and Meini are of course there too! ► Follow us on Instagram: / pulsreportage THE PULS REPORTAGE PLAYLIST Our playlist contains the songs from the videos. New every week! ► Spotify http://open.spotify.com/playlist/74OF... ► Apple Music / die-ari-meini-playlist ----------------------------------------------------------- Hi! We are Ariane Alter, Nadine Hadad and Sebastian Meinberg from PULS Reportage! In our videos we explore exciting questions every week and like to try out experiments on ourselves. There is a new PULS Reportage every Wednesday at 3 p.m.! ► Follow Nadine on Instagram: / nadine_hadad ► Experience Sebastian's self-experiments live: / heinz.wescher Write to us in the comments what moves you - we'll dare to do the self-test and try it out for you! ----------------------------------------------------------- PULS is the young content network of Bayerischer Rundfunk. ► Facebook: / puls ► Twitter: / puls_br ► Instagram: / dein_puls ► Website: http://www.deinpuls.de