cuteness is now accepted as one of our languages

Clumsy kittens, pigs in costumes and glittery unicorns: how the cult of cute took hold | Life and style | The Guardian

very day I rise early, like a stock trader, to start the daily business of sending and receiving adorable videos. Pigs wearing pig costumes, alien creatures spanking each other’s botties, relationship dynamics explored via gibberish, talking cats and noodly cartoons. My friends and I are in deep, but how did this happen? “Cuteness has been slowly taking over our world,” says Claire Catterall, curator of the Cute exhibition at London’s Somerset House. “It’s now accepted as one of our languages.”

The fascination with cute things is a phenomenon that has gained in popularity thanks to the Internet. Here are a few ways of understanding this trend:

The human brain tends to find anything that looks juvenile cute. For example, adding two eyes to a mug suddenly makes it cute.
Adults react stereotypically to juvenile features, activating care mechanisms towards their young.
Studies show that the smell and sounds of babies trigger innate reactions in parents, reinforcing the appeal of cuteness
On Instagram, the hashtag #cute has over 510 million posts. Cute videos of pets also have a positive effect on our emotional state.
Cute products attract attention and motivate purchase
In short, cuteness exerts a powerful influence on our emotions and behaviour, and the Internet has amplified this fascination