Quickly, I found myself deep into Youtube: Game reviews, longplays (full walk-through of game without commentary), top ten lists, drama stuff, let's plays, ransom animation videos, compilations. I watched a lot of videos. Watching anime, film or something that would be more enjoyable and fulfilling? Nope, Youtube videos that's where it's at.. When I wake up, when I come from school, when I am tired, when I have something important to do, when I don't have anything to do I check my subscriptions, hop into a recommended video on the front page or rewatch something that I already watched too many times.
But why? Why it is so alluring about it? Often it is not half as fulfilling as watching an exciting anime, reading a thrilling book or playing a game that makes me feel lively. Rewatching them is even weirder because honestly most web videos aren't created to be long-living works.
I guess an easy answer is comfort. Youtube is comfy, the videos that I watch are comfy. They might be entertaining, interesting but they mostly take no effort to watch or listen in the background. To be fair, there are truly amazing web videos out there, but these aren't videos that I often seek. A casual play through on a channel with low subscription count, random gameplay video without commentary, top 10 videos and game reviews: these were the kind of content I watched, at least in the beginning. I can just be idle for a very long time. I do not have to research or mentally set myself up to watch them. It's always there. Just like TV in a sense. It's funny, I rarely watched TV for very long years, but I guess it just became my TV instead.
One aspect web videos are so unlike TV is that they are truly comfy. "Being idle" might sound too harsh more than web videos deserve, it's not the same as where TV just empties your brain. Rather, it's more akin to comfort food. They usually have a warm atmosphere that other media lacks. It's just usually a person talking in front of a camera or while there is text, pictures or gameplay on-screen. Even when there is good production value, it has a casual, homely feeling; which makes them very approachable.
Web videos actually taught a lot about me too. A door to Anglosphere popular culture, a place for casual English practice, a training ground for the worst things you can see on the internet, (Seriously, if you go down on Youtube comments long enough, you won't ever complain about any other social media platform again.) a library that can make you teach useful knowledge like programming, a microphone for People Who Have Interesting Things To Say and one of the genuinely best avenues for comedy. And all with a very laid back format, like you are talking with your friends.
Nowadays, I try to seek out content that feels more meaningful. I can confidently say my Youtube experience is overall greatly improved; a lot videos. I have watched feels just boring. My active time is also declared, even though I am not still exactly on the place I want to be, but I usually put stuff into background to listen and I only follow channels I actively enjoy. It helps that I have actual passions too, like writing.
What I am getting with this? Well, web videos are undoubtedly a serious medium now, the view count and the sheer amount of videos are released daily alone prove this. Even if you don't watch them, it's very important to recognize their effects. And those who do regularly watch should apply the same critical thinking we apply to the media. At their worst, web videos are horrendous tools are propaganda, instruments of bullying and lies. At their best, they are rivers where endless creativity flows freely without any pretensions and they can be very good at just make you relax a little. And yes, there was a video on background while writing this article...
This article is written thanks to my dearest Patrons and special thanks to: Alexandra Morgan, Laura Watson and Spencer Gill.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder