Confessing My Love for YouTube

I have totally fallen in love with YouTube. I’ve gone through YouTube phases before, where I would become interested in a certain topic and spend all of my free time watching videos on it. At the beginning of quarantine I became obsessed with the Curly Girl Method, watching every video related to curly hair in the span of a few months. I found myself enjoying all of those videos because I really wanted to improve my hair game and make it healthier.

Now, I am deeply invested in the vlog side of YouTube, and I seriously can’t get enough. I can chalk up this new interest to a few things.

I love Netflix, and I am guilty of consistently re-watching TV series. However, there is something to be said about watching someone record their life as entertainment, and not having it be reality TV. It’s almost hard to put into words why there is any fascination with this at all. I think it has to do with the fact that when a YouTuber consistently vlogs, you get attached to them the way you would a TV character. Before you know it, you get invested in their life and their interests in the same way you would when keeping up with a friend. But in this case, the YouTuber feels like a friend who doesn’t require you to exert any social energy. Writing this statement is really quite sad, but true for many people.

This past year has definitely weakened my social abilities and my social stamina. So when I keep up with someone vlogging on YouTube, my brain is getting that same serotonin I would feel if I were catching up with one of my friends. In this case, however, there is no emotional effort needed in doing so, which is a very strange phenomenon to think about.

My new interest in YouTube also comes from the fact that many YouTubers are not really famous. They might be really popular and have a lot of followers, but they aren’t necessarily super wealthy or constantly stopped on the street by fans, making them pretty relatable. Also, their content always makes their lives seem really exciting, making it fascinating to keep up with someone who is not so different from me. Especially since life has been quite boring lately, I love to feel like I’m experiencing the exciting events of someone else’s life from the comfort of my bed. 

Ultimately, these YouTubers act as more realistic icons for me. Although all of their content is extremely curated, they’re just young people like myself who are trying to make a name for themselves. Most of the time they act as my role models, because they are creating their own content, choosing their own outfits and doing their own makeup. And really, I am fascinated with how other young people, like myself, are living their lives.

Another interesting aspect of YouTube is a huge part of creator content is the partnerships with different brands. I find that watching hauls that these YouTubers do is a great way to discover different brands, whether it be clothing brands, make up, skin care, etc. Since YouTubers usually partner with brands that are smaller, or up and coming, I find new companies that I never would have heard of otherwise. I think this is such a win-win concept because the brand gets publicity, the Youtuber gets money or merchandise, and I, as the subscriber, am both entertained and exposed to new brands.

I think that YouTube has a strange connotation in our society, because it can be viewed as kind of stupid. I’ve noticed especially when girls start their own YouTube channel, they tend to receive a lot of snide comments from their friends and family who think no one will be interested in their content. The term ‘influencer’ can have kind of a negative connotation, because many people don’t see it as a ‘real job’. I am here to say, however, that I have a lot of respect for anyone who has the courage to capture their life on a camera and make a career out of it.

Overall, I love the Youtube side of social media, for all its content and for keeping me thoroughly entertained day in and day out.

• fashion
• lifestyle
• makeup
• social media