First, I might be able to do 2 blog post per month... who knows. Just to let you know.
Ok for this post, I may get love or I may get hate. Either way, I need to get this out there. I tried to make a video about this but it always end up me not making sense whatsoever so I've decided to let it go but after jumping in to YouTube again and seeing another kind of video that I will be mentioning here in this post, I need to speak my mind out.
Also for this post, I will not mention names and show any videos because it will lead to an online war where I don't want to get deep in to.
So lets get started.
Today's blog post is about how YouTubers are using Dan and Phil or targeting fan groups for views.
Listen, I'm fine with whatever video you want to make since YouTube is such a creative space. You can bring up YouTubers as well to show that you've been in the loop, like you know what this space is and all that but there must be some line between 'being original' and 'using fan groups'.
Lets start with you guys accusing me of using 'dan and phil' in my channel. Listen, I make original content as well. To be honest, I make more original content than my fandom content. It's ratio is literally near a coin toss and I try to pursue more on my original content. And also, I've been in the phandom since 2014, I co-run @PhandomAus on Twitter and even written fan fiction (one of them got shortlisted for a university level creative writing contest). So if I make D&P videos, it doesn't matter since I have some involvement with the group.
My issue is people who are like 20 - 30+ people who are making videos about them. The weird part is that they look like they have no idea who Dan and Phil or any other youtubers are but know that if they make D&P content, they can attract an audience.
I'm not accusing youtubers like 'Crank that Frank' that he's part of this group, no... he's fine, there are others and I will not name them.
Listen, I'm not saying that you can't make these kinds of videos, it's your channel, do whatever you want. However, I make D&P videos when necessary, I don't have the ability to make them all the time. Even if I do, I make a decent amount of views. And I'm part of the Phandom.
The other group thou, they have no idea who they are, they just have to do a single Google search to find out who they are, read @UpdatedPhan on twitter just to have accurate constant updates about them and in the end, make a simple video and get more views than me. (Let me repeat, these people have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA who Dan and Phil are and GET MORE VIEWS for making basic to near-advanced content while I get at least 100 - 500 views when I make Phan videos).
I know I have no right to complain or anything since people will nag, saying 'make better content' or 'you suck' or 'you have a really small following' and other bullshit. But that's the thing, I tried EVERYTHING I could do and I also have other plans as well to post online but I feel like it's kinda unfair that there are people who COMPLETELY have no idea who these people are and get more views than me.
Is this fair? No! But can we do anything about it? Not really.
And that's the thing, I think people doing something like this is really unfair but there is literally nothing I can do about it since I'm just a small person. I don't think even my online friends can help me fight this battle since it's either they don't care or it's nothing to be worked up about. I know this shouldn't bother me but my recommendations feed lately besides Undertale, Drama Alerts and British Vloggers video recommendations, I will stumble across a video where people who are SOO OLD, reacting to PINOF or Phan Fiction just to get views!
I dare you to find these channels and question them about the advanced knowledge in the phandom like 2012 or V-day or anything else. Or better yet, ask if they went to TATINOF or MET THEM IN PERSON (Get Photo/video proof) or check their social media accounts if they post/reblog/retweet D&P content.
Same goes for other YouTubers that these people 'pretend' to know. Ask them the advanced knowledge about them, if they met them, if they bought a decent amount of merch. If they can't answer that, then they're just using them for views.
Anywho, this is just a rant that I've been having a hard time expressing through video and decided to type it all down in a blog post.
But do you have anything else to add in the conversation? Let me know!
My name is Cutiejea and this has been my Life Out of the Camera.
Ok, so recently, I had a university assessment task where I had to write an essay about anything based what I've recently learned in university. So what I did what I chose the topic how social media has an impact on young girls. For this project, besides using academic articles, I used a lot (and i mean a lot) of YouTube videos, We the Unicorns articles and I interviewed 2 of my online friends who are Sophie (AmazingDogpie) and Ataska Mercado (The Voice Kids Philippines Contestant).
So I kinda promised to share what I've written but due to privacy and stuff, I'm only allowed to share my interview with Sophie. So underneath is the near edited version of my essay of how social media impacts the mental health of younger girls.
Social Media – The Impacts it creates for Young Girls
Social Media has changed how we communicate, perceive and share ourselves to others online as it has given us the opportunity to connect with different people around the world. Big named people like celebrities uses social media like Twitter to communicate to their followers and through this, it has also given anyone the opportunity to become famous. However, the use of social media for young girls opened up topics such as body image, mental health, and identity as this has evolved on how women were portrayed in the past in traditional media to the digital age where anyone with an Internet connection could be affected and the unclear difference between the online and real life identity.
For the sake of this topic, I also interviewed Sophie Milton (aka: Amazingdogpie), a songwriter with 2 thousand subscribers on YouTube via Twitter to give her viewpoints on the subject.
Throughout history, women were portrayed in media as ‘the perfect housewife’ and how they should be ‘serving their husbands’ and so on. This was accepted as it was the social structure until the 1990’s when women began to fight for their rights. Now in the 21st century, especially in this decade, social media has played a role in our society and a role on the degradation and portrayal of girls and women as the affected age has dropped from married and single women in their 30’s back in the last century to girls as young as 13 or lower. From ads to music videos and celebrities shown offline and online, girls and young women are mostly affected.
In ‘My Great Big Adventure’ (2015), kids and teenagers were discussing why they use social media. A group of girls said that they enjoy using social media as they know there are people out there viewing their content and have the ability to showcase their lives and brag about it to them while a group of teens talked about how they use social media just to communicate with their distant relatives. Social media has changed on how we communicate with others all over the world and this gave the idea of the world going smaller.
When YouTube star Zoe Sugg posted a selfie with her in pajamas while her underwear is exposed on Snapchat, The Sun (2016) stated that Zoe’s exposing herself to her audience as young as 10 and deemed ‘inappropriate’. This created the #WeStandWithZoe campaign on Twitter (2016) as Zoe commented that it was a disgrace that The Sun reported about her rather than other important things as her post was meant to be innocent. This opened up a discussion of online identity as Zoe just wanted to post something innocent but she’s now categorised as a ‘celebrity’ due to the way she perceived in the online world due to the amount of attention she receives. Sophie said to me that she doesn't see herself as a celebrity but her fans love to praise her in that way and also mentions that she gets targeted for her talent due to the accusation of copying another songwriter. This shows that once you reach a certain level of attention, you start to feel pressure between your real and online identity.
Essena O’Neill is a model with over 250+ subscribers on YouTube and over 700k+ followers in Instagram. In her online video (2015) she explains about how she hated her ‘online persona’ and talks about how her online life is ‘fake’ and she got all caught up on it. Her story has opened up topics on identity, body image and sexism as she mentions when she was 12, she would look up models and how to become one and she would compare herself to them. She didn’t care if it was artificial, she just wanted to be valued and be like them and thought it’s through a large following in social media that she will feel ‘accepted’. All the things she has mentioned equates to exposing herself as ‘the perfect image’ and how people will only follow you if you become the person they want you to become rather than yourself.
(The re-upload of the video)
But even just owning an account can girls still receive hate. Research (Bonanno & Hymel, 2013) shows that 57% affected from cyber bullying were females in the average age of 14.2 years. According to Blackery (2013) she thinks that girls get more criticized than boys online and the worse part is the anonymity factor where people can hide behind the screen and say whatever they want and it’s somewhat true as according to the Daily Mail (2015) girls aged 11 – 13 now feel more under pressure and are more likely to worry.
Fletcher (2013) thinks that the hate comments that females get on the Internet is based on appearance and targeting their self-esteem hence why it’s hard for girls and young women to brush it off. Sophie stated that in real life, she couldn’t talk about her online problems to her peers as she thinks that she will be judged. Stephen & Wilcox (2013) stated that our self-esteem can be enhanced through the use of social media and it can also determine our behavior. This shows that the feedback that young girls can receive can affect their mental health and how it could be pressured and feel less about themselves just through their interactions online and how they want the world to see them.
A resolution for this is that young girls need to be presented with someone who can motivate them to be themselves rather than to be an image of what they want to be as well as the awareness of the existence of online support networks as according to Mehta & Atreja (2015) users communicate with other people who may have experience the same issues and at the same time, being anonymous about it.
Therefore, young girls needs to presented with relatable role models and be supported with people they trust offline and online in order to prevent the stigma affecting their mental health.
So this was my essay (or at least the edited version due to privacy reasons) but this just shows that it is possible to use YouTube for your homework ON A UNIVERSITY LEVEL and somewhat get away with it.
But why did I tackle this topic?
The reason is because it gives a bigger scope on how girls are portrayed online and how it impacts us in some way. You may not see it but there are times when people give the wrong impression on how girls show themselves in media and online as they take their persona in a literal sense rather than something else.
I know because it has happened to me!
Prior to when I was forced to delete my channel, I was told that the way I presented myself as this punk, badass, opinionated person isn't what they want me to be and that I should maintain a certain image of 'innocent', 'sweet' and 'cute'. It was annoying and it hurts as they didn't want me to express myself in a different image which made me feel like myself and more on the image they wanted me to be got me bullied!
Girls are given the pressure to maintain innocent and be a role model to perfection where in reality, it's not like that. We don't want to be this 'figure' of perfect.
But what are your thoughts on my little essay that I wrote for my uni assignment? I hope you like it. But I guess by this point, I will have a comment war where people will start questioning everything.
My name is Cutiejea and this is my Life out of the Camera.
Ps: Here is the reference list
References:
Sales, Nancy Jo (2016) Social Media and Secret Lives of American Girls, Time Vol. 187(6/7) pg 26 – 26, Retrieved From: http://time.com/americangirls/
Smyth, Sara (2015, April 20) Toll of social media on girls' mental health: Sexualised images fuelling rise in anxiety among pupils aged 11 to 13, Daily Mail, Retrieved From: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/docview/1674166886?accountid=36155&rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo
Stephen, Andrew & Wilcox, Keith (2013, June 1) Are Close Friends the Enemy? Online Social Networks, Self-Esteem, and Self-Control, Journal of Consumer Research, DOI: http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/10.1086/668794
Mehta, Neil ; Atreja, Ashish (2015) Online Social Support Networks, International Review of Psychiatry, 2015, Vol.27(2), p.118-123, DOI: 10.3109/09540261.2015.1015504
Bonanno, R. A., & Hymel, S. (2013). Cyber bullying and internalizing difficulties: Above and beyond the impact of traditional forms of bullying. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(5), 685-97. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9937-1
NineBrassMonkeys (2012, Dec 15) How to Get Views | BECOMING YOUTUBE | Video 2 (YouTube Video), Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCEOSWQtnR8
NineBrassMonkeys (2013, Feb 25) Girls On YouTube | BECOMING YOUTUBE | Video 7 (YouTube Video), Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsRHDdHsFo8
The Fine Brothers Entertainment (2014, Sept 21) Teens react to Nicki Minaj – Anaconda (YouTube Video), Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uf7UpkbfmY
YouTube Spotlight (2016, March 8) #OwnYourVoice: Standing Up for Gender Equality (YouTube Video), Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAHDs83-YTc
iKaryn (2015, Nov 03) Essana O’Neil – Why I REALLY am quitting social media - (Original Video), Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1Qyks8QEM
Alanah Pearce (2013) Why You Shouldn't Want a Gamer Girlfriend (YouTube video), No longer available online
Pew Research Center (2015, April 9) Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015, Retrieved From: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/
The Australian Broadcasting Company (2015, Feb 16) Social Media [TV Show], My Great Big Adventure | Series 2, Episode 5, Australia, Retrieved From: http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/mobile/videoDetail.html?s=4102942-1393381
The Australian Broadcasting Company (2012) Body Image [TV Show], My Great Big Adventure | Series 1, Episode 7, Australia, Retrieved From: http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/mobile/videoDetail.html?s=4310964-1473372
The Australian Broadcasting Company (2015, Mar 10) Self Esteem [TV Show], My Great Big Adventure | Series 2, Episode 8, Australia, Retrieved From: http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/mobile/videoDetail.html?s=4102942-1401826
The British Broadcasting Company (2016), The Rise of The Superstar Vloggers [TV Documentary], One Click Away, United Kingdom, Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA3LVgIKoFY
YouTube Red (2016), A Trip to Unicorn Island [Video Documentary], Worldwide
Zoella (2016, March 23) Comment on The Sun’s Article of her selfie [Twitter Post], Retrieved From: https://twitter.com/Zoella/status/712356726654291969
Hudson, Charleyy (2016, March 23) Zoella Fights Back Against The Press Trying to SLUT - SHAME Her, Retrieved From: http://www.wetheunicorns.com/news/zoella-pants-calvin-snapchat-selfie/
Hudson, Charleyy (2016, March 24) Team Internet Made #WeStandWithZoe The Top Twitter Trend, Retrieved From: http://www.wetheunicorns.com/news/westandwithzoe-zoella-snapchat-twitter-selfie/
The Sun (2016) YouTube star Zoella ditches wholesome image with bedtime Snapchat... of her in her knickers, Retrieved From: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/7019272/YouTube-star-Zoella-ditches-wholesome-image-as-she-Snapchats-bedtime-knicker-pic.html
Townsend, Benedict (2015, Nov 3) This YouTuber Just Quit Social Media And You NEED To Hear Her Explanation Why, Retrieved From: http://www.wetheunicorns.com/news/this-youtuber-just-quit-social-media-and-you-need-to-hear-her-explanation-why/
Smosh.com (2015), 'Social Media Is Not Real Life': Teen Instagram Star Explains Why She's Quitting Social Media, Retrieved From: http://www.smosh.com/smosh-pit/articles/social-media-not-real-life-teen-instagram-star-explains-why-shes-quitting-social
McCluskey, Megan (2016, Jan 1) Instagram Star Essena O’Neill Breaks her Silence on Quitting Social Media, Retrieved From: http://time.com/4167856/essena-oneill-breaks-silence-on-quitting-social-media/
Degrading Women in the Media (2011), Retrieved From: http://degradingwomeninthemedia.blogspot.com.au/
Fawcett (n.d.) Women in Media, Retrieved From: http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/policy-research/attitudes-media-culture/
Women in Advertisements and Body Image [n.d], Retrieved From: http://womeninads.weebly.com/history.html
Tom (2014) 23 Vintage Ads that Would be Banned Today, Retrieved From: http://www.boredpanda.com/vintage-ads/
Note, everything here is based on opinion and expression. If you take me down, then you are proving the point of this post.
So... you know how when something bad happens to you, you go through an 'anger' stage where you will do/think something that will count as 'revenge' or 'fighting back' from the source of said anger? For me, this may sound weird but there was a time where I was considering joining Anonymous... or just support them in any way possible.
If you don't know, anonymous is this hacking group where they try to bring justice and equality to society, stopping the '1% who play God without permission' (Mr Robot, 2015). They are not a government party but an idea according to them. Basically, they want to restore balance to society as everything is filled with conflict and inequality like poverty and the unfair law system (according to them).
And you may be asking, why the [bleep] do I want to join anonymous? Why does someone like me want to be involved in this 'idea'? And how the heck did I ever heard of this group of people wearing 'V for Vendetta' Masks?
The reasons begins when I was forced to delete my channel.
That one reason brought me not only to my 'depression / my life is over' phase but I was awakened by the injustice the people who were involved to take me down just because I had a voice. I was expressing myself through my rants and vlogs about my life and the fact that I was forced to delete my most popular videos then my channel and it got me really upset. One of the videos I was forced to put down was a video about 'Why I hated my preliminary exams' as SiTC 2014 was happening, TRXYE by Troye Sivan and 'Better Late than Never' by Stuck in Your Radio has been released ON THE SAME DAY and Season 8 of Doctor Who just premiered on TV! That's basically it, besides the fact I ranted about how hard my subjects are. Another video I was forced to take down was me singing 'Narda' by Kamikazee during an event 'on location' and lastly, I was forced to take down a video about how you give revenge to your ex by showing you are better off without him during the healing process. Yes... I was forced to take down this HARMLESS video for the vulnerable people on Valentines day, motivating them to not be miserable.
By this point, you should have a clue on who forced me to take down my channel. These people told me that doing this 'can ruin my reputation' or 'make me not have a job' and I have to 'suck up and accept the whole thing'. I want to point out that there are famous youtubers doing the same thing and they have like millions of subscribers.
These people took my character the wrong way and forced me to take down my videos. My rants are similar to Danisnotonfire mashed up with I Hate Everything but they took everything literally and got really offensive. I told this to my peer group and there was a divide on who is right and wrong.
This memory still haunts me whenever I view my 'about' page in my YouTube channel as I'm no longer a legacy user.
I first went emo. I've been listening to Muse, My Chemical Romance, Panic! At the Disco and Fall Out Boy constantly. I was very upset at school that if someone mentions what happened, I would end up 'blowing up', telling them to shut up as I can tell they have a part on taking me down (or just blantly accuse them)
But then I heard about Anonymous and how their goal is to restore order for the voice with no voice, with no power... and I am one of those people with no power during my fragile moments. I was treated unequally for injustice reasons. I was forced to remain silent till I graduate and finish HSC and for that... I can't say what I want to feel because 'I will be hunted down and thrown my ass in jail!' (Pyscho, Muse, 2014).
I know Anonymous is more on stopping the government but their main goal is stopping oppression to the 99% with no voice... and I want part of that. I wanted to fight back with the torment I was given during my darkest hour.
To me... Anonymous was my hope as I was already tired with the rules that I was forced to follow. (Yeah... I have a dark side).
But I know I have no chance in being in this group because I have no idea how to hack, heck, I don't even know how to code in my Tumblr page for pete sakes.
So as usual, that idea is to me 'something that I would consider in an alternate timeline'. But recently, I just watched this TV show called 'Mr Robot' due to a university assignment and watching that brought back memories of me wanting to support the group.
Maybe this poster will help explain why:
Mr Robot is about this guy named Eliot who is a hacker who was chosen by this hacker group called F Society (this is the actual name, I'm not censoring anything here). The goal, take down E Corp (or Evil Corp) through hacking their systems and destroying their backups so that they can take down the 1% who play God without permission.
When I first saw this, my first impression was 'Ooh, the guy is bug eyed'... I'm not joking, here is the ACTUAL Facebook convo I had when discussing about this:
I watched the entire season 1 in 3 days (#suchprocrastination) but knowing their motives and the story and everything else, it brought me back to that phase of defying the people in control cuz... f*** society. And Mr Robot wasn't the first who made me express my anger of society, Muse's album 'Drones' was like a drug for me. I've been listening to all of their songs in that album (along with a few others) as the songs are about defying order. The 2015 film Straight Out of Compton also triggered this as its about how their 'art' is being threatened by the authorities. I even got in to My Chemical Romance due to the same reasons. The songs that I constantly listen from them are Destroya, I'm Not Ok, Welcome to the Black Parade, Teenagers and Kids From Yesterday.
Can you see the connections here? All are about defying order, being yourself no matter how many push and take you down, breaking the rules due to it's injustice.
What I'm saying is that, I'm not part of Anonymous, I don't think I'm worthy to be part of them but their motives on breaking social order and rebuilding it for the little people is something I support. I'm tired of being shut down for having a voice and an opinion. Just because I said one thing doesn't mean I'm that, this is just me expressing how I cope from being annoyed with the bullshit treatment I was given.
So I will repeat this, everything here is based on opinion and expression. If you take me down, then you are proving the point of this post.
Am I the only one who felt like this? Were there times when you questioned the system and authority? Oh well.
So my name is Cutiejea and this has been my Life out of the Camera!
