Day Two

My Obsession with YouTube

March 17th, 2015

As previously discussed, we are all continually surrounded by many different forms of media that we do not necessarily choose to be influenced by. And although these are important influences in our lives, I have found that, personally, I notice the influences of the types of media I consciously choose to consume more than the subliminal messages coming from advertisements, music, movies, etc. For this reason, I think a lot about YouTube.

 "But isn't that just the place to watch cute cat videos and listen to music, Andrea?" 

No.

Sure, several years ago YouTube contained mostly inappropriate videos and shoddy vlogs, but in the ten years since its creation it has evolved into something beautiful. The channels I am most interested in come from the minds of John and Hank Green. Beginning in 2007, John and Hank became part of the internet community by starting one of those terrible vlogs, Brotherhood 2.0. It was a project the brothers created to bring themselves closer together. It was only supposed to be one year long, but, much to the surprise of the viewers, the brothers still vlog twice a week, every week on their very popular YouTube channel Vlogbrothers. The brothers have also helped craft 26 other YouTube channels such as CrashCourse and SciSchow (educational programs free to everyone), The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (a modern-day vlog style interpretation of Pride and Prejudice), and How to Adult (a series for young adults struggling to make it). This is the type of media that I choose to let influence me. 

I spend multiple hours a day watching videos on topics ranging from astronomy to Boko Haram. Yes, I must admit that occasionally I indulge in a silly video (right now it's The Narwhal Song). I entertain and educate myself through this one site that I am obsessed with. Despite the literal billions of people who love and support knowledge through YouTube, its use is often illegitimized. For example, when three well-known Youtubers were able to interview President Obama via YouTube this year, many people from the "real news" on television dismissed these interviews as silly and beneath the office of Presidency. Yes, the content creators often do silly things in their personal vlogs, but these Vloggers interviewed the President with respect and asked important questions about immigration, college education, and net neutrality. If you ask me, the use of YouTube isn't childish or outlandish, it's smart. The YouTubers who interviewed the President have a total of 18,581,069 subscribers, while the top five cable news networks only have a total of 2.9 million viewers during prime time. 

YouTube has become a place where the world can see the President in a more personal light, where content can be shared freely to educate the public, and where the internet can raise over 2 million dollars in two days (via the Project for Awesome). As a mass consumer of YouTube's content for about six years, I have seen the evolution the platform has undergone, and I am convinced that its media prevalence is only going to continue to grow in size and in influence. And it better. Otherwise, how would I watch all those cat videos?

Links to mentioned channels 

Vlogbrothers: www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers

SciShow: www.youtube.com/scishow

CrashCourse: www.youtube.com/crashcourse

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: https://www.youtube.com/user/LizzieBennet

How to Adult: www.youtube.com/learnhowtoadult