Sigh. I have officially embraced my millennial energy. I recently realized I have a severe addiction to Youtube videos. I didn’t realize how invested I was in Youtube drama until the other day, when I was talking to my co-worker extensively about the Shane Dawson series on Jake Paul and after finishing my five-minute rant she responded by staring at me blankly. “Why do I know so much about these random people?” I thought to myself as I stared in horror into my own reflection in the mirrored closet next to me.
Youtube is, in my opinion, the DIY version of reality television. Vlogs, which are videos filmed by a person to show their daily life, are made by all sorts of YouTubers. I also see the appeal as a sort of “online diary,” where the creator documents their own life, and the audience is attracted by this sense of voyeurism, or acceptance in being able to view the personal aspects of another person’s life.
I would say that Youtube shows humanity’s innate desire for empathy in the sense that videos with the most views are creator’s life updates on marriages, divorces, babies etc. People really are interested in hearing about a random person’s day, which to me sounds quite wholesome. I often play Youtube in the background while I’m cleaning, doing work, and even now while writing this article, something one of my exes said was an “attempt at feeling companionship,” which may also be part of the appeal of the Youtube vlogger.
However, as Youtube has progressed it has become a lot less wholesome and has even become concerning in terms of content, filtering and the freedom creators have to impact young audiences. How can parents filter what their kids are watching on a site that is largely unfiltered? This debate has come to light recently, as Youtube-brothers Logan and Jake Paul rose to fame with a majority young audience. They’ve been criticized for doing videos considered “immoral,” such as filming a dead body in the suicide forest of Japan during a vlog. Jake has also been accused of hitting his ex-girlfriend, as well as being problematic with the other members of “Team 10,” the group they started that participates in most of their videos.
Shane Dawson, a veteran Youtuber, has put out a docu-series that has made me see the other side of this glamorous online world I’ve grown up watching. His series on Jeffree Star showed us money doesn’t buy happiness, famous celebrities have feelings too, and how hard it was for Jeffree to get to where he is now. Meanwhile, Shane’s in-progress series on Jake Paul has shown viewers the human, vulnerable side behind the media mogul as well as perspectives from others who talk about the terrible things he’s done. His series (which I’ll elaborate on in another blog post), really shows viewers how Youtube can consume your life, as it has with Jake and Logan Paul.
Overall, I’d say Youtube is a great platform for creation. It allows for freedom of expression and lets creators make money off of their work in the process. My concern would be of course, how Youtube affects kids and if I was a parent, I don’t think I would let my kids be exposed to this platform before a certain age. Videos can be seen as a teaching method, and I’d be worried about how kids absorb information, values, and morals from YouTubers who don’t have share my own ideals.
I’m still going to go back to watching Youtube drama channels, makeup tutorials, and vlogs. Regardless, it’s good to think critically and understand the pros and cons of a media platform, especially in the digital era.