Live data from Hacker News

More Kids Want to Be YouTubers Than Astronauts Because Obviously

ffwd.medium.com

11–19 of 19 posts

Re: More Kids Want to Be YouTubers Than Astronauts Because Obviously

#13

To be honest a kid who wants to be a YouTube star has a much higher chance of success at their dream than a kid who wants to be an astronaut.

Arguably, the skills acquired while working towards becoming an astronaut are much more valuable than the ones you could as a YouTuber. Video and audio editing might come in handy, but you will likely not end up getting a job.

Re: More Kids Want to Be YouTubers Than Astronauts Because Obviously

#14
post #7

Being around kids, I can tell you this has nothing to do with earnings. YouTube 'stars' are seen as celebrities for these children. It's not uncommon for a child to want to be a celebrity. That, coupled with the fact that society at large no longer idolizes astronauts - or even speak much about them, sadly.

That seems true for all the occupations in this list except "teacher", which in the US is a thankless, disrespected, and underpaid occupation.

you can thank the teacher's union for that bit of gem

Re: More Kids Want to Be YouTubers Than Astronauts Because Obviously

#15
While I'm not enthusiastic about YouTuber as a career choice, Astronaut nowadays is a singularly poor career ambition:

* Extremely high qualifications needed

* Minuscule chance of making it through the selection process

* Job is endless dealing with bureaucracy and the ever changing whims of governments, or, in the private sector, of narcissistic plutocrats.

* At best, you go on a handful of space missions in your entire career.

* And the work you get to perform on those missions is roughly the scientific equivalent of lighting a fart in space.

Re: More Kids Want to Be YouTubers Than Astronauts Because Obviously

#17

To be honest a kid who wants to be a YouTube star has a much higher chance of success at their dream than a kid who wants to be an astronaut.

Arguably, the skills acquired while working towards becoming an astronaut are much more valuable than the ones you could as a YouTuber. Video and audio editing might come in handy, but you will likely not end up getting a job.

Video and audio editing are a small part of being a YouTuber

Creating content for millions of viewers, having the pulse of what a large audience wants, the right personality, etc go much farther

And I think those skills can translate over to our connected world

Re: More Kids Want to Be YouTubers Than Astronauts Because Obviously

#18
post #8

This article makes a number of suppositions without really critically exploring those claims. Some questions I have after reading this: 1. How does this compare to historical trends in the US? Did more kids in the 80s want to be rock stars or Hollywood actors, for example. 2. How is the author establishing a relationship between occupational earnings and the ambition of young people? Do we know that this is even a si…

> 4. How much does this even matter?

It could matter a lot of a kid is motivated enough. They could start now and at the very least end up developing skills like video editing, publishing, maybe even coding or a deeper understanding of computing.

It might develop an entrepreneurial spirit which could be a real difference maker in their life vs. the path towards astronaut or lawyer or doctor (careers which take a lot of schooling).

If you compare the dream of becoming a YouTuber to rockstar or sports athlete, I can see the path to YouTuber having more transferable skills come out of it than the other paths even if they never achieve the dream.

Re: More Kids Want to Be YouTubers Than Astronauts Because Obviously

#19
Would you rather be a youtuber than an astronaut? I know I would. If you succeed you are pretty much being paid an insane amount to be mediocre at your passion.

Regardless of your age, we are a selfish society, and from a selfish perspective, youtuber is the obvious choice.

Post reply on HN