The Rise And Fall Of YouTube
Every day after school, I knew that I had one thing at home waiting for me: a fresh, brand new YouTube video by either macbarbie07, mylifeaseva, and beautybaby44. Or even Michelle Phan. At the ripe age of 10, I would dive into the realm of the YouTube abyss, and I didn’t want to come out of it. I still haven’t. I am still here, plugging my AirPods in because I can’t eat a meal without listening to a lifestyle influencer vlog while I chew in eight minutes the food that took me an hour to cook. I scroll and scroll until my hand hurts from holding the weight of my phone, yet I still do it every single day.
But when I was an avid YouTube watcher back in middle school, I didn’t feel like this. I would get my iPad to watch beautiful people explain how to apply their Tarte foundation and show their morning and night routines for every season, before and after school. Monthly favorite videos, “draw my life’s,” room tours, “what’s on my iPhone,” “what’s in my bag,” and the list goes on. Moreover, I don’t think my love for YouTube at this time was unhealthy at all. Actually, watching YouTube at this age and at this caliber taught me how to express myself, and showed me some things I never would have ventured to learn in real life.
I specifically remember a video in between all of the family vloggers I loved, and this particular one was filled with tips on what to do when you’re on your period. Although I have all the resources and a loving Mom who showed me how to take care of feminine hygiene, it was something totally different to hear advice from someone who seemed like a big sister to me. And to me, that’s what YouTube was; I could laugh, learn, cry, and find inspiration during the weird years in between middle and high school.
I’m not saying influencers are bad, but the rise of them directly correlated with the fall of this favorite platform of mine. YouTube used to be this thing that felt like my own– I picked out my all time favorite Youtubers to subscribe to, anticipated their moving vlogs to LA, and even attempted to go to VidCon and Playlist Live, but I was too young for that I presume. Then TikTok came and I quickly fell out of touch from watching videos, and instead became immersed with what was curated for me. Rather than long, intentional videos that I chose to watch, the content I was consuming became strategically selected, supposedly “for me” and ended up making me feel worse than I did before I watched them.
Every now and then I come back to YouTube. It’s kind of like reminiscing on your first crush, like how you were so infatuated with them and in retrospect you can’t think of why you ever were. Between the long ads, sponsorships that pop up when you least expect them, and scarce uploads, it seems that YouTube may be on its way out.
I’ve never been a YouTuber, but I love the platform itself and miss the ownership I had of it. I felt the connection between all of the YouTubers I watched, and I wonder now where they are. It seemed like the app would be infinite, but now a lot of the “OG” and infamous YouTubers have “fallen off.”
To all of the YouTubers I used to watch, I hope you’re okay. I’ll be sure to Like, Comment, and Subscribe if you appear again.
Strike Out,
Written by: Madison Meadows
Edited by: Sarah Singleton
Graphic by: Aisy Nix
