In the early days of YouTube (circa 2008), we all watched Jenna Marbles teach us how to trick people into thinking we were good looking and somehow endured and even enjoyed the comedy in the high-pitched voice of Fred. Since then, YouTube has progressed into a widely diverse forum. It's totally possible to find whatever it is you're interested in on the website whether it's Ted Talks, fail videos, or something in between. The problem with this is that everyone with a YouTube channel is automatically lumped in with the viral videos and other mindless content. People working hard to be spokespeople of our generation on this website are downplayed by traditional media and a large portion of the public. While it's easy to dismiss YouTube as a lower form of media, this assumption is irresponsible and frankly, wrong. Many avid consumers of traditional media are oblivious to the intellectual, entertaining, and diverse world of YouTube.

Even with YouTubers like Tyler Oakley--who has billboards in Times Square and a New York Times Bestseller--those who have risen to fame because of this website are struggling to receive the respect they deserve from the public and the traditional media industry. Many TV shows and movies are created solely for entertainment value and they get commended for their cleverness and wit. Not to mention that TV talk shows often use YouTube viral videos or challenges as segments. YouTubers are disregarded when they do the same thing and make a video for the views and the laughs.

(via amazon)

An example of this dismissal can be observed in Jenna "Marbles" Mourey's interview on Good Morning America in 2013. The reporters say that she's become immensely famous with more than a billion views "for making videos about nothing." The interviewer goes on to remark not on Jenna's answers (which are mostly edited out of the news segment) to her condescending questions , but to make a tally of the amount of times she says "ridiculous" in the interview. Then, continuing in her superior tone, the host comments that Jenna's fans love what she produces, but that "they are, after all, mostly teens." This interview, instead of possibly educating the older generation about a portion of the media that they might not be familiar with, diminished Jenna Mourey's significance to that of a child who's picked up a camera and filmed herself without thinking.

(via deadline.com)

What this news reporter either didn't know or ignored about Jenna is astounding. Had this interviewer done more research or changed her attitude regarding her interviewee, she could have shared with GMA viewers that Jenna has her Master's Degree in Psychology from Boston University. She could have shown the hard work that Jenna puts into her videos. On her YouTube channel, she has many videos in which she talks about hard hitting subjects like how to handle becoming an adult. On a second channel dedicated to vlogging her life, she shares a lot of her days with viewers who find her inspiring and relatable. She has used her education to produce content that appeals to her audience that is mostly teenagers (and there's nothing wrong with that I might add). Underneath silly antics and the funny sketches, she's included relevant and helpful advice to viewers who need this.

Jenna Marbles is far from the only YouTuber who has gone through similar situations where their efforts are boxed into the corner of the media that is considered unprofessional when they are anything but that. Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart, for instance, also both have New York Times Bestselling books on the shelves yet are rarely featured on talk shows or other traditional media platforms of any kind. Case in point--you've probably never heard of them.

This is not to say that all content produced by people with YouTube channels is groundbreaking because it's not. Yes, Grace Helbig has videos where she dresses up like christmas trees and stuffs Thanksgiving food down her spanx. Yes, Hannah Hart's main channel features a segment called My Drunk Kitchen where she gets tipsy and cooks badly. The mistake people make is using the apparent goofiness as a way to dismiss this outlet as immature and unprofessional. These entertainers are primarily here to do just that--entertain. Besides that major point, if the time is taken to actually consider these videos as productive, it is easy to see that they are.

(via gracesguidebook.com)

Another interesting thing to note is that many TV shows (The Ellen Show, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live, etc.) are acclimating to the effects of YouTube well. They've taken advantage of this platform, as they should. Those shows such as Good Morning America that have belittled YouTubers are therefore belittling their own industry as well. In the long run, these shows could be left behind if they continue to deny the influence of new media.

Inspiration, advice, how-to videos, and genuinely interesting material is frequent on this website if you take the time to look. In the future, YouTube will likely become one of the most powerful tools available. Whether traditional media is scared of being replaced or surmounted by new platforms or just unknowledgeable on the details of this website on the rise, skeptics will soon need to come to terms with this vast and unlimited source of information and entertainment.