I mean, I really love that email and facebook allows me to keep up with my friends that live outside of the states that I can't just call up and talk to (long distance calls to Ecuador are about $1 a minute. . . ouch), and it's fun to post pictures and stuff and browse through friends' photo albums. But I'm not entirely talking about facebook. It's part of it, but that's not what really is bugging me.
I've never really spent much time on youtube. If friends send me links to videos they think are funny, I'll watch them. I just have never really understood how to browse videos, and it makes me nervous thinking of searching youtube and having videos come up that I really don't want to watch.
However, yesterday while studying for finals I looked up some of my favorite youtube videos, and decided I'd follow some of the links on the sidebar to see if any of them were really as funny as they were supposed to be. Lots of hits and misses, really. I really hate to admit it but I think I spent over an hour looking at a bunch of these random videos people all over the world uploaded. One video in particular caught my attention, it's called How to Be English by some kid in the UK. It's really pretty funny.
The thing that struck me the most, however, was that this video was uploaded by someone who is a youtube video blogger: someone who frequently, every couple of weeks or so, uploads a video where they just talk about random stuff or make a funny spoof video. This specific video blogger had millions of views, hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and comments flowing in every couple of minutes.
I was surprised at how many people do this; video blogging. On youtube. Talking intimately as if you were having a conversation with your best friend, but it's with a webcam that will be viewed by thousands of strangers who feel like they know you personally. Am I the only person who feels weird about this? I just don't like the idea that my generation is spending more time connecting with an internet personality such as baseballfan108, rather than calling up a friend and going out to coffee to really connect.
Our relationships are becoming more and more impersonal and we're ok with that. We like that. It doesn't involve vulnerability. You don't have to really share what's going on in your heart. Really, you can be whatever you want to be and feel accepted. Since when did feeling accepted matter more than truly being loved?
I don't know if I'm properly writing out what I'm trying to say. I just don't like how impersonal we've become, and it makes me nervous how much this trend could continue with future generations. There's youtube vloggers who are only 12 and 13 years old even! I just wish there was more emphasis on fellowship and getting together with friends for a game night, rather than sitting in front of the computer screen all evening and rating your favorite youtubers newest video.
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