I'm Worried About YouTube

I’m worried about YouTube. 

Long gone are the days that I could turn to my subscription list and know that there was something I’d want to watch whilst I waited for the kettle to boil. Unfortunately, the creators that I’ve been following for, what feels like, years now have changed their tack when it comes to the content they upload. 

I don’t care how many marshmallows you can fit into your mouth (The Chubby Bunny Challenge) I also don’t care whether your partner can do your make-up accurately (My Boyfriend Does My Make-Up Challenge). YouTube is full of tags, challenges and ‘paid for advertorial’ videos that it’s quickly losing it’s worth as a platform - for me at least. 

YouTube is the new television; YouTuber’s upload their content on a scheduled basis and have themes to their videos which forces them into the category of ‘episodes’. If I wanted to watch television, I would. 

Rosianna Halse Rojas recently uploaded  a video on YouTube and it’s barriers for entry and I can’t help but agree with 90% of what she’s said. YouTube has become MTV; daily vloggers are pimping their rides and showing us around their crib like they’re going to be the next Kardashian. Hauls, Home Tours and Reviews have stopped being beneficial to the younger generation and have become more of a ‘look-what-I-bought’ video - companies are vying for the attention of vloggers to have their products features in their videos that it’s all become far too corporate and not personal enough to relate to. 

Let’s talk about the phase of YouTube books that are appearing on our shelves…
Whilst I’m glad that so many young people have the platforms they do for having their material read, shared, published and bought by millions; the books aren’t books - they’re just another piece of merchandise.
I would feel confident in saying that people who bought Zoe Sugg’s (Zoella) debut novel ‘Girl Online’ and who didn’t like it, in a literary sense, will still go out and by the second book ‘Girl Online: On Tour’. It’s not about literary content, it’s a materialistic need to have something that a younger generation believe they want, whether they truly do or not. 

If it’s no longer about literary content in the books that YouTubers are churning out, you can guarantee it’s not about their online content. 

Whilst there is no doubt in my mind that I am in awe of the YouTubers who make the money they do, and their ever-growing audiences - I wish people would take their rose-tinted glasses off and see that the substance behind what should have been one of the most positively influential platforms is fading fast. 

I don’t care what you bought on your most recent trip to Los Angeles, nor do I care how much the cinnamon burns when they take a spoonful of it into their mouths (The Cinnamon Challenge).
I want to know what they think about Blackfish or veganism, education, drinking. It doesn’t all have to be based around issues of such huge cultural substance; tell me about something that your Mum taught you as a child that now rings true more than ever. Start a conversation. Make video responses. Be proud to create content that makes people have such a strong reaction that they are inclined to comment, interact and start a conversation - even if it is simply to agree with you and back you up. I’m not saying go out of your way to be controversial, just be real, say what you actually think. 

So, I’ve told you what I don’t like about YouTube. What about the things that I do?
I like that there are still a number of YouTuber’s whose views and opinions I respect and I would let sway my decisions on something. Rosianna Halse Rojas, Sanne Vliengenthart, and Lex Croucher are just a few of the women I follow who talk about mindfulness, rape culture, inequality, what it’s like working in the publishing industry, how to vote (but NOT who to vote for), the 2014 Abuse on YouTube situation. The list of conversation starting content is endless. I dare you to try. 

Disclaimer: I’m not condemning YouTubers in any way, shape or form. I’m merely challenging them to use their captive audiences for good/for the better. Make YouTube into enjoyable TedTalks for kids; teens and anyone else who you want to talk to.
Nor am I saying that I’ve never enjoyed a haul/vlog/favourites video before, or the occasional challenge, I’m simply wishing that the content ratio on YouTube would swing more toward the opinionated, challenging content than anything else. 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

“Absolutely captivating.”
— Kirkus, starred review

“A funny and tender coming-of-age story that’s also the story of a writer finding her voice.”
— Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Rowell manages to capture both the wildly popular universe of fanfic and the inside of an 18-year-old’s head. Consider me a fangirl of this charming coming-of-age tale.”
— Entertainment Weekly

“As funny as it is embarrassing, and as charming as it is true-to-geek-life … Fangirl is a cute and poignant read for fangirls and fanboys of all ages.”
— Tor.com

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, published first in the US in 2013, is flying off the bookshelves. So much so, that after hearing about it for weeks from my course mates, I had to go to my two different local Waterstones twice before I managed to arrive on a day when they had one left in stock. Even the clerk in the shop loved it, she told me that her other half had taken her away for a romantic getaway weekend and she ignored him for half the trip just so she could finish the young adult book. 

I wrote fan fiction avidly, my whole way through secondary school, usually surrounding me and my favourite bands so when I read Rowell's book of a nerdy girl at University avidly writing her own fan fiction, on a series that sound stone loosely based on Harry Potter, I felt cool. My inner nerd shrivelled down a little and I felt cool; the nerdiness of fan fiction in Fangirl is turned into passion, talent and the unwillingness to let some of or favourite characters go.  

I enjoyed it immensely and even though my copy has gorgeous drawings by Noelle Stevenson, I couldn't help but imagine the main character Cather as the girl who first told me about the book. Her name is Grace and she reminds me entirely of Cather. In a wonderful way. 

The plot moved on quick enough so I didn't get bored and the characters are almost more loveable than my real life friends. Makes me wish I had a twin sister of my own, even if it was just to bounce ideas off. 

Next up, Paper Towns by John Green. I enjoyed The Fault In Or Stars, so I have high hopes for this one.