this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2026
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It still boggles my mind, in a world where so many list after the "real-ness" that has been brought to us by individual content creators that so many still follow these people that are just doing it for the money, clout, etc. Sure, creators need to make a living, but why bother following the types of people that would think attending an AI luxury trip (whatever that is, I cannot be arsed to find out) is a good idea?
I've never understood people deciding to spend their time and their lives watching what other people on YouTube or other social media have to say about anything.
Nothing about how social media works create some actual drive for those people to be honest or genuine about anything. They're directly financially incentivized to do or say whatever they think would get them the most clicks and views. There isn't any realness, just the drive to make people think they are being real and genuine in whatever it is they think we'll get the most clicks and views.
When it started I saw it is mostly people streaming playing games on line and just didn't understand why I would spend my time watching other people play games instead of spending my time playing games myself. Now it's changed to pretty much just watching everything a person says and watching their "life" while they sit in front of the camera or no other cameras are rolling and act completely different than they would act without them.
Yeah, sometimes someone's going to slip up and let out a racial slur or something. Some sign of the person they really are. But most of what everyone is watching is just people putting on an act to get views and to make money. It's just the "reality tv" of a younger generation and just as based in actual reality. Semi scripted arguments between two players to try to drum up views for both of them, all of it. It's Real World, Big Brother, and Real Housewives.
None of it is real, the people are all completely fake, but the streaming format makes people tune in and feel more like they are actually these people's friend instead of another one of 100 million people that suckered into watching their bullshit so they can make what's not crazy amounts of money doing nothing with any actual value to society.
I think that's an overly cynical take tbh, and inaccurate to some extent. Not all online videos are bad and fake. I'm bias, as I create videos myself, but I mention that because the stuff I make is real. If I weren't filming I'd be doing very similar stuff anyways. YouTube is at it's best when you're watching a relatively niche piece of someone's life that they're passionate about, it isn't all fake reality bullshit. Additionally, I'll mention that people have shown that they want entertainment whether it be a TV show, movie, or an independent creator on YouTube, and that stuff does have real value to people. It, by definition, isn't worthless, as people will pay for it. Of course, I wish people held those they watch online to a higher standard.
Eh very few things on YouTube are worth paying for and most of it is ads even if the creator isn’t technically getting paid to promote.
I don't think you can complain about ads in the same sentence as you say stuff isn't worth paying for.