By now, most people have probably heard about the controversy surrounding vlogger Logan Paul's video in which he and his friends visit the Suicide Forest in Japan. If you haven't, I'm sorry, but I refuse to give this ignorant, insensitive and terribly dealt with issue any more screen time. If you want to know the whole story, go ahead and look it up, but I will not be the one to give this kid any more attention than he's already gotten.
The only reason I even mention is name is just to give you an idea of what made me start thinking about YouTube's future in our society.
Sure, it's a great platform for people who otherwise would not be able to make their voice heard because it gives them a space in which to share their ideas. It's also a place for viewers to go and find someone- a real person- to whom they can relate, which makes the viewer feel a little less alone.
However, with hundreds of hours of content uploaded to YouTube each day, there are bound to be some unsavory videos that sneak into the mix.
This is the first time in the history of media that we have so much diversity or passions and interests available at our fingertips. When we find a content creator that we like, we become a part of their "community." Once the creator finds their niche of people who like their content, they will create content to try to keep pleasing their subscribers.
In some cases, searching for the next topic for a video that will land you on the trending page can get dicey. It's not always easy to come up with genuine and original content, so these creators may resort to trying to shock their viewers with so called "clickbait" in order to get more views.
This just proves how much impact that regular people now have on the media that we consume on a daily basis. Individuals now have the ability to alter popular culture with a few taps on their keyboard.
I could go on forever about the controversy I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the irresponsible way that YouTube handled it and how they waited ELEVEN days to make any kind of statement regarding it, but I won't.
I will simply say this: everyone, YouTube creators and viewers alike, need to keep in mind the implications this site has in our society.
