Last weekend, our son brought home a rather nasty bug. He bounced back fairly quickly but not before infecting his two sisters. Caitlyn was bedridden with it for most of the week and whiled away her time either sleeping or watching tv, and gaming. Tara decided that the couch was going to be her sickbed so she could maximize her entertainment options.
This meant I was witness to a lot of YouTube. A lot. And while the majority of the ‘tubers she likes are fairly harmless, it still reinforces my attitude that I wish the whole concept had never been invented.
As an old codger who existed pre-internet and pre the ‘its all about me’ world of Instagram and YouTube, I am slightly mystified by people sharing their rather boring lives and the people who watch them. Hours and hours of people doing really NOTHING of substance and there was Tara watching it all. I was raving to Caitlyn about this and realized, in their universe, we should have been actually recording ourselves and to those YouTubers that would have been totally cool.
This week Tara has watched hours and hours of videos by Shane Dawson and his ilk. Shane is actually a YouTube vet and has been at this gig for a while (is there a shelf life for these people?) and has been very successful in diversifying and expanding his entertainment empire. He also seems like a pretty nice dude and this commentary is by no means a slam at him.
But.
The kids introduced me to Shane a while ago when they wanted me to watch is “documentary” ‘The Mind of Jake Paul.’ They then showed me his “conspiracy” series. I am putting things in quotation marks for a reason. And please bear with my superciliousness for a moment. Shane seems like a nice guy, but I am sure every other broke documentarian in the world must scream at his viewer numbers and (I assume) $ in his bank account. As an adult watching these ‘hard-hitting’ shows, I died inside at the total lack of professionalism or understanding of how to research and interview a subject. It is all fluff. Pure fluff that the younger generation seems to eat up a being a total big deal.
The show that almost ended me was one that was this bizarre mashup that shoddily cut between a story about the weird pizza you get at Chucky Cheese, new voice imitation technology and the plight of a former YouTuber and her abusive boyfriend. It was the weirdest most jarring thing I have ever seen and to me is the perfect example of how our ‘selfie’ stardom, anyone can be famous attitude that is YouTube, has diluted and trivialized serious stories all in the name of entertainment. How do you edit between Chucky Cheese and a story about deceit and abuse? And why? Why would you think that was a good combination of topics to lump into one program?
If any historians exist in the future, they will surely look upon YouTube and Instagram as the cornerstones of the downfall of all intelligent civilization.
These shows that Tara ingested during her sickness were fine for a time when she was feeling gross. They are basically margarine for your brain. It spreads on nicely, but there is very little substance and therefore about all an ill mind can manage. However, if this is what our younger generations are replacing what was already questionable on more traditional entertainment channel like cable tv, we are doomed. And what do they teach? Basically, who needs to go to school. Who needs to learn how to do ANYTHING when you can just go on YouTube and be famous and make money.
I realize I am painting YouTube and those monetizing it successfully with a rather large and negative brush stroke. I really do. But I think my attitude is justified. How do people think their lives are THAT interesting to record all of it? Why do people watch it? Why should complete strangers give a crap about your angst about moving out of your brother’s house!? Do they care about my life? The psychology beneath this phenomena boggles me. It goes beyond reality tv. THAT – while abhorrent – I get. It is like watching a train wreck or being at a zoo. Is watching YouTubers the same? Most of the people the kids watch are so vanilla. So mundane and seem very naive about the world they exist in. It all seems to only reflect on them with nary a thought to what other people’s lives must be like.
I think that is what annoyed me about Shanes conspiracy shows the most. I got the sense that even him doing these shows was a glimmer of him struggling to be more aware of the world beyond his little crew and their cameras and instead of being humble about it, being like “LOOK!! I DISCOVERED THIS STUFF THAT PEOPLE ALREADY KNEW ABOUT!”
Does that make sense?
Tara just came downstairs and told me that he was doing a show where he was recreating death row last meals. You can imagine that not much thought was put into this concept when I pointed out to her that this was not something to be creating entertainment about. I asked her if she got it….that that meant someone died in an awful way. She said it was people who had done terrible things. I told her that in my mind that didn’t really justify Shane make a show about it. Did Shane think about this?
There are a lot worse on YouTube than Shane. Again, he seems like a pretty nice guy. My point is that nice or not this non-content is such a waste of space and energy and I feel is just helping us trivialize anything that is true art or takes skill or knowledge. Watching people eat junk food from Target should not be the pinnacle of entertainment. We can do more, can’t we?
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