Honestly I don't think there is much to be seen. Young people are playing the hand they have been dealt, it just isn't a very good one.
Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
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Re: Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
#12Honestly I don't think there is much to be seen. Young people are playing the hand they have been dealt, it just isn't a very good one.
That is a very victim mentality statement to make.
Re: Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
#13Re: Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
#14I can't believe my eyes. Am I just too old? Some random persons shows herself in 5 different shirts or shows herself sitting all day on the balcony? Why is that interesting and so many people want to watch this?
My conjecture, for which I offer no proof: people get a lot of utility from friendship, especially if that friendship is with someone popular/fun/cool/beautiful. People are also not very good at distinguishing "I see this person on a screen every day and it's like we're hanging out" from "I hang out with this person every day".
Way back when this effect played out in the way people connected with the people on their favorite TV shows. If anything, it's compounded now, since you can watch these people do normal hangout stuff like "sitting all day on the balcony". That stuff used to be reserved for friends and family, or at least acquaintances. So we still attach a special feeling to taking part in it. Again, this is most true when we see the person as cool.
Might even be further compounded by the rise of actual friendships (i.e., two-way streets) that mostly play out online -- if many of your interactions with actual friends occur over Instagram, it's easier to see "I see person x's Instagram posts" as a kind of friendship.
These are just guesses. I follow some people on YouTube, but they're all very skilled practitioners of at least one of my hobbies, and I'm not into their sporadic "my life outside my hobby/vlog" videos.
Also, on reflection, I probably stole most of these ideas from an old essay David Foster Wallace wrote about television, "E Unibus Pluram" [1].
Re: Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
#15Re: Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
#16Some time ago I always looked down upon such creators, but, with time - what is the difference between those influencer kids and Hollywood (especially in times of netflix cut-cost model)? Its still only about content provided, and content market is biggest ever today. Of course, I doubt that this (being employed as YT persona) is sustainable on a long run (there is myriad of reasons, including platform dependence), but girl already has a foothold in entertainment industry, far easier to start for her now than if sending screenplays to random producers. My point being, people watching it (or authors creating it) are not stupid, they are market driven, its almost a systemic problem that we can create value out of nothing and sustain this value doing nothing. World continues to spin.
Re: Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
#17>Chamberlain edits each video she makes for between 20 and 30 hours, often at stretches of 10 or 15 hours at a time. Like other professional social media users, the work has taken a physical toll on her. (She releases roughly one video a week.) She used to edit at a desktop, but she developed back pain. Now she works from her bed. She keeps blue mood lighting on, but her vision has deteriorated. She works harder than…
I think she needs some kind of counselling or mentoring because working long stretches like that is not going to lead to long term gain as she's already noticed with her health. The attitude and work ethic are commendable but it's not what I want as a role model for my own kids.
Re: Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
#18Re: Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
#19I can't believe my eyes. Am I just too old? Some random persons shows herself in 5 different shirts or shows herself sitting all day on the balcony? Why is that interesting and so many people want to watch this?
My conjecture, for which I offer no proof: people get a lot of utility from friendship, especially if that friendship is with someone popular/fun/cool/beautiful. People are also not very good at distinguishing "I see this person on a screen every day and it's like we're hanging out" from "I hang out with this person every day". Way back when this effect played out in the way people connected with the people on their…
I have noticed this effect in myself while watching streamers on Twitch. You start to feel like you're sitting on a couch with your buddy playing a game.
Re: Emma Chamberlain dropped out of school and changed the world of online video
#20Theranos