The Weird Side of Youtube

By: Joe Barlow

Launched in February of 2005, YouTube has become the most popular social media site on the internet and in many ways has revolutionized the way people consume media. It offers a seemingly endless supply of content and allows anyone to create a message and share it with the world. Its most popular content creators have become celebrities in today’s society and to many are held in the same regard as famous musicians, hollywood movie stars, and professional athletes. YouTube’s trending page features music videos, news clips, “challenge” videos, sports highlights, reaction videos, and many other types of content that would be considered “mainstream”. However, if you dig around in its almost 2 billion hours of video, you can wander into what many call “The Weird Side of YouTube” and one the most prominent topics in this section is conspiracy theories.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a conspiracy theory as “the theory that an event or phenomenon occurs as a result of a conspiracy between interested parties; spec. a belief that some covert but influential agency (typically political in motivation and oppressive in intent) is responsible for an unexplained event”. Though their popularity has increased thanks to the wide availability of videos detailing such theories on its platform, conspiracy theories have existed since way before YouTube’s inception. One of the first recorded uses of the term, “Conspiracy Theory” appears in The Journal of Mental Science, Volume 16, published 147 years ago in 1871 (2). However, author, Lance DeHaven-Smith has stated that the term did not become a part of colloquial language until 1964 after criticisms emerged about the Warren Commission’s conclusions regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (3).

Videos found on YouTube address a wide variety of theories ranging from grounded and plausible to utterly absurd and ridiculous. Some of the most popular theories include the United States Government being responsible for 9/11, that the world’s elites are members of the Illuminati, a secret society attempting to create a totalitarian one world government called the New World Order, and that the pharmaceutical industry has been covering up a causal link between vaccines and autism. Recently, one theory that has drifted into the mainstream is the Flat Earth Theory which states that the earth is actually a flat disc or plane rather than a sphere. The popularity of this theory has led to scientists and intellectuals such as Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson to publicly criticize the theory and its believers on its lack of scientific reasoning and erroneous evidential claims (5).

Political Scientist, Michael Barkun has attempted to explain the appeal of conspiracy theories and why so many people would hold such beliefs despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He provides three reasons for the appeal of conspiracy theories, the first of which states that “conspiracy theories explain what institutional analysis cannot”. Humans are driven to discover the meaning behind things and conspiracy theories are an easy way to provide this in regards to things which may be mysterious and confusing. His second reason claims that these theories provide their explanations in a simple and appealing way by “dividing the world sharply between the forces of light, and the forces of darkness.” They portray the conspirators as being purely evil and maniacal which creates a sense of simplicity in a world that is often complex. His third and final reason states that “conspiracy theories are often presented as special, secret knowledge unknown or unappreciated by others.” (6) This gives conspiracy theorists a feeling of being special and in some cases superior to those who they believe are “uninformed”. A study conducted at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz by Roland Imhoff, a professor in Social Psychology, supports Barkun third statement and concludes that there exists “a modest but robust association between the self‐attributed need for uniqueness and a general conspirational mindset (conspiracy mentality) as well as the endorsement of specific conspiracy beliefs.” (7)

It appears that the irrational and often absurd beliefs of conspiracy theorists have deep roots in human social-psychology. This explains the rising popularity of YouTube videos detailing such theories and why so many people buy into them. The growing popularity of these videos has not gone unnoticed by YouTube as they have been implementing measures to combat what it deems as misinformation present on its website. They have added annotations from “trusted sources” such as Wikipedia to search results about conspiracy related content (8). However, if the claims by Barkun and Imhoff are true, it may not be enough to stop the spread of conspiracy theories.

Works Cited

1. TED-Ed. “The Origin of Countless Conspiracy Theories – PatrickJMT.” YouTube, YouTube, 19 May 2016, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88_C-fogY40.
2. “The Journal of Mental Science.” Google Books, books.google.com/books?id=VsRMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=conspiracy theory&f=false.
3. “Conspiracy Theory in America.” Google Books, books.google.com/books?id=TilCeCKDujQC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false.
4. O’Neill, Brendan. “Do They Really Think the Earth Is Flat?” BBC News, BBC, 4 Aug. 2008, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7540427.stm.
5. StarTalk. “Neil Tyson Demonstrates Absurdity of ‘Flat Earth.’” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Mar. 2018, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLPPE3_DVCw.
6. “Welcome to the Online Archive of the Old PublicEye.Org Website.” PublicEye.org – The Website of Political Research Associates, http://www.publiceye.org/antisemitism/nw_barkun.html.
7. Imhoff, Roland, and Pia Karoline Lamberty. “Too Special to Be Duped: Need for Uniqueness Motivates Conspiracy Beliefs.” The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Wiley-Blackwell, 23 May 2017, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ejsp.2265.
8. Robertson, Adi. “YouTube Is Fighting Conspiracy Theories with ‘Authoritative’ Context and Outside Links.” The Verge, The Verge, 9 July 2018, http://www.theverge.com/2018/7/9/17550954/youtube-google-news-initiative-fake-news-conspiracy-theory-context-updates.

By Antonio Melegari, Laura Szrom, Joe Barlow, Jocelynn Palmer.

Below are a list of blogs written by members of Professor Poulakos’s social and cultural aspects of media class.

By Antonio Melegari

YouTube, a creative hub for many people with all types of channels. Today people can watch channels like PewDiePie, Smosh, and RomanAtwoodVlogs. A large portion of the very popular channels consist of individuals with very large followings who vlog their day to day experiences. Although those types of channels are massively popular, channels that involve people risking their lives are pretty popular as well.

People who are thrill seekers and daredevils have been exciting their peers for centuries but with the rise of YouTube, people are performing crazier stunts than ever before. Channels such as James Kingston, a daredevil Brit who illegally climbs up buildings or Shoenice, who will consume anything under the sun, have grown in popularity in the recent years. With James Kingston’s channel he can be seen climbing some of the tallest buildings in the world. He often has to break and sneak into skyscrapers at night to avoid being caught. A video titled, “CAUGHT BY SECURITY ON 162M HONG KONG ROOFTOP”, shows him breaking through a locked off door and eventually being escorted off the building by a security guard. Being that he performs these stunts in countries like China, he could face years in prison.

Before the time of YouTube, people who would perform these kind of stunts wouldn’t have a massive audience to promote themselves to all the time. A person that I think about who had the following prior to the internet age was Evel Knievel. When he would perform his motorcycle stunts, millions of people would turn to TV to watch them. In order to film a stunt like any of Kenival’s, it would’ve required an entire film crew. Now, any daredevil on YouTube can film a number of dangerous stunts with a very low budget camera. Kingston’s channel has over 62 million views and has over 600k subscribers.

Although these videos have a growing audience, some might question whether the people who run the channels have lost their touch with reality. YouTubers strive to gain the most subscribers and views. This can be seen with YouTube channels of all sizes. The question is: Are YouTube views worth the risk of one’s own physical and mental health. This could play into Chris Schewe’s channel, Shoenice. In his channel, he can be seen drinking full handles of vodka, or eating glass. Diving deeper, a blogger at Motherboard, was able to interview Schewe. In the interview, Schewe explained that throughout his childhood, he was bullied. In order to be thought of as interesting by his peers, he would consume glass and other non edible items. This ties into his channel today where he will consume anything. By watching some of his videos its not hard to figure out that his personality is strange. Possibly he acts like this because he needs to validation from his peers? There are also other videos on YouTube that show intentional self harm, like cutting.

On Kingston’s channel, he has another video called “quitting youtube // depression”. In the video he explains that during his childhood he had problems with depression as well, but recently he had been feeling extremely depressed. Potentially all of the life risking stunts that he’s performed could have also played a role on his mental health. Shoenice also took a hiatus from YouTube by deleting his old channel. He eventually uploaded a video to his new channel about his sobriety. An article from NBC on mental health stated that these types of videos could cause individuals to cause self harm and even try some of the stunts on their own.

Tying back to original question Is Putting Yourself In Danger Worth Views? some might argue that it is. I’m sure both James Kingston, and Shoenice are pleased with views and money that they’ve made from YouTube. Also, due to the problems that they’ve both faced one could argue that YouTube has allowed them to both engage in dangerous activities. Although entertaining for the viewer, it could be very detrimental to the performer.

Works Cited

“In the News: YouTube: Self-Harm Videos Under Scrutiny.” GUIDE TO CARE FOR PATIENTS: Low Back Pain | Article | NursingCenter, http://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=1172918&Journal_ID=54030&Issue_ID=1172859.

Murano, Grace. “10 People Who Make Serious Money on YouTube.” Oddee, http://www.oddee.com/item_99232.aspx.

Stuckey, Daniel. “The Gut-Wrenching Story of Shoenice, the YouTube Star Who Will Eat Anything.” Motherboard, VICE, 22 Feb. 2013, motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/d779vy/shoenice-will-eat-anything-video.

Tanner, Lindsey. “Millions Viewing Graphic Cutting, Self-Harm YouTube Videos.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 21 Feb. 2011, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/41695404/ns/health-mental_health/t/millions-viewing-graphic-cutting-self-harm-youtube-videos/#.XBe6ehNKjOQ.

By Laura Szrom

Introduction

• 

      ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response and was coined by Jennifer Allen in 2010. It can be described as euphoric tingling and soothing sensations. This can include sleepiness, tingles, calmness, relaxation, etc. These sensations can be physical or psychological and can be triggered multiple ways. The four most prominent triggers are whispering, personal attention, crisp sounds, and slow movement. The feeling usually originates on the scalp and travels down the spine to other parts of the body (Barratt & Davis 2015). In the case of YouTube, the stimuli is auditory, including object sounds, oral sounds, and spoken sounds. This is an alternative to other videos that give visual pleasure, like mukbangs. ASMR videos use household objects to use and tap on to produce the sounds that give static sensation. The results can be an improvement in mood, anxiety, sleeplessness, and more. 

     YouTube

    The first ASMR dedicated YouTube channel, WhisperingLife, was started on March 26th, 2009. By 2012, 60 new ASMR channels were created. Now, there are more than 1.5 million ASMR videos on YouTube by people known as “ASMRtists”. Many ASMR youtubers will partake in “ASMR role-plays” to create different close proximity scenarios for their viewers. For example, a popular channel called the Gentle Whisperer will pretend to be a hairdresser, masseuse, librarian, travel agent, etc. Her videos have resulted in more than 87 million views. Her videos and others like hers  are very uneventful and long. They aim to be a form of meditation and not require much thought.

     Unlike other YouTube videos, ASMR videos are not just for profit and pleasure. Most ASMR youtubers want to help their viewers with anxiety, depression, insomnia. Maria from Gentle Whisperer says that other ASMR videos helped her through depression, and now she wants to pay it forward.  The letters she gets from her viewers thanking her for helping them get through a tough time are more than enough of a reason to make the videos.  She also sees fellow ASMR youtubers as friends rather than competitors. These videos can be someone’s escape from the chaos of everyday life. The goal is comfort, relaxation, euphoria, and so much more. People will feel better for hours after watching a video.

      YouTube ASMR videos are different from other traditional agendas of old media because they are not sought out just to entertain. The rest of YouTube is filled with educational videos and videos made solely to entertain their audience. This is done in the hopes that views will rack up and money will be made. ASMR videos, on the other hand, are mostly made to help people. “ASMRtists” produce videos for complete strangers around the world to benefit from. So many viewers have testified to having better mental health after watching ASMR videos. Having the power to improve someone’s mental state is more than enough of a reason for these youtubers to create videos. They are personal and intimate, creating the ideal tranquil environment. In addition, people having the feelings of ASMR feel validation knowing there is a whole community on YouTube that feel the same. 

   ASMR videos challenge people’s perspectives by having actual benefits despite the weirdness. A video anywhere between twenty and sixty minutes of someone whispering seems a bit odd. But the ASMR community on YouTube continues to grow as more people understand and appreciate the concept. ASMR videos are a great alternative to other forms of anxiety/depression relief. Listening to a YouTube video is another option that people can explore whether they need to de-stress, relieve a bad mood, be put to sleep, and so on. This is different approach than traditional solutions like therapy, antidepressant medication, comfort food, etc. It is also an alternative from getting ASMR through personal attention. This can happen from getting a back massage, a hair cut, or an assortment of other services. The advantage of YouTube is that it can address a large amount of people at one time. There is no need for someone to actually play with your hair or trace circles on your back. One can just put on a YouTube video from their own home and enjoy the benefits of ASMR to their heart’s content. 

Works Cited

Barratt, E. L., & Davis, N. J. (2015). Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): a flow-like mental state. PeerJ, 3, e851.

O’Connell, M. (2013, February 12). Why Has This Hourlong Video of Someone Pretending To Get a Haircut Been Viewed Nearly 1,000,000 Times? Retrieved from https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/02/asmr-videos-autonomous-sensory-meridian-response-and-whispering-videos-on-youtube.html

Richard, C. (2018, December 05). What is ASMR? Retrieved from https://asmruniversity.com/about-asmr/what-is-asmr/

By Jocelynn Palmer

A Mukbang, (or “eating broadcast,” from Korean) is an online phenomenon where people film themselves eating a large amount of food on camera via livestream (broadcasting video live over the internet) or for Youtube. Viewers will often tune in daily to watch their favorite “mukbangers” (known in Korea as “BJs”) eat massive amounts of food.  In Korea mukbangs originated in 2009 on the online streaming service AfreecaTV in South Korea. Often, these broadcasts would feature young people, especially attractive young women, eating large amounts of food. (Lee So, 2015) According to Hong and Park (2016), “Korea has developed its own food culture based on traditional health discourse and strict table decorum,” To get away from Korea’s strict cultural norms, Hong and Park theorize that Koreans will go to the internet to feel less restricted by these cultural norms surrounding eating. With these broadcasts, “[Mukbang] contradicts traditional values and challenges legitimate culture.”  Although it originated in South Korea, American Youtubers have also caught onto the trend and have gained millions of views and a following from these types of videos.

 

 

But why are certain people so obsessed with watching these types of videos, and makes them spend hours watching strangers eat? Jackson, from Today says,  “A big part of the mukbanging experience is the potential ASMR component…American YouTuber, Trisha Paytas, often perform in videos with food, and sounds like slurping, chewing, crunching and many other noises emitted while eating, give many devotees the “tingles.” Some people who watch mukbbang videos watch the videos solely for the AMSR(Autonomous sensory meridian response) aspect of it. Paytas, who has been uploading videos of her eating since 2015, is one of the most popular American “mukbangers.”  A lot of the people who watch her videos and comment are people who either wish they were eating the food she was, as one commenter noted, “Watching people eat makes me hungry😂”(Paytas, 2016) or people making fun of Paytas for how much she is indulging, “ I’ve been subscribed to Trish for probably 4 years and I still don’t know why I haven’t unsubbed yet, she actually infuriates me with how much of a filthy pig she is”(Paytas, 2016).

For some people watching mukbangs might be out of loneliness. While eating a meal is most traditionally done communally, and amongst family and friends, some people find themselves alone during meals. These types of videos might make someone eating at home alone feel a type of companionship. Not only is the idea of not eating alone comforting, it also might make people feel like they are on a date or having a friendly conversation with that person, especially given that most mukbangers are attractive young creators.  In a recent report by the Royal Voluntary Service charity found that one in five people over 70 eat most meals alone (Lavelle,2018). With an increase in people eating alone, and an increase in the use of technology, there could also be more people having the need of comfort at home, and wanting to have some kind of presence in their life while doing mundane things like eating a mea. In doing so they turn to online video as a replacement. While eating your meal, you can search on Youtube or tune into your favorite streamer and enjoy yourself and feel a little less alone. One of the main differences of Korean mukbangs and American mukbangs is the talking, and the content of the video, aside from eating. American mukbangers like Paytas talk about a something that went on in their day, answering fan questions, or just about what is on their mind. Korean BJs, on the other hand, are more silent, instead focusing on the actual eating of the food. (McCarthy 2017)

People also watch Mukbangs to help themselves with their own battles with eating. A commenter on one of Paytas’s videos wrote, “Watching your mukbangs has helped me on my journey as I’ve tried to change my attitude and beliefs toward food and eating. Thanks so much for putting yourself out there, Trish.” (Paytas, 2016) Watching people eat food openly can make people struggling with eating disorders cope with their own problems and help them overcome, and start to change their attitudes towards food, especially when their favorite Youtubers are doing it. Youtuber ErikTheElectric focuses his channel on eating challenges, and has been open about his own past struggles with eating.(2015) People in the comment section thank him for helping them feel better about food, and watching his videos make them feel more comfortable and help them grow their appetites.( Kim, 2017)

Mukbangs are a form of entertainment that people watch for multiple reasons. While it might be ‘strange,’ and something some people might find disgusting, for the most part it seems like something that has more positive for people than negative. It is an alternative way for people to interact with others and be more social in their day-to-day life.

References

D. L. (2018, November 5). Mukbang: Is loneliness behind the craze for watching other people eating? Retrieved from : https://www.msn.com/en-ph/lifestyle/lifestylegeneral/mukbang-is-loneliness-behind-the-craze-for-watching-other-people-eating/ar-BBPozCF

ErikTheElectric. “Anorexia Recovery (The Beginning) | ErikTheElectric.” YouTube, YouTube, 24 May 2015, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjzWD9cWhyU.

Jackson, K. (n.d.). Inside ‘mukbang’: How some professional binge-eaters earn thousands. Retrieved from: https://www.today.com/food/what-mukbang-inside- viral-korean-food-phenomenon-t123251

Kim, M. (2017, October 30). Extreme Eating: Are “Mukbangs” Helpful or Hurtful to Those With Eating Disorders? Retrieved from https://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hcht/blog/eating-disorder

McCarthy, A. (2017, April 19). This Korean Food Phenomenon Is Changing the Internet. Retrieved from https://www.eater.com/2017/4/19/15349568/mukbang-videos-korean-youtube

Seok-Kyeong Hong, Sojeong Park. (2016). Emergence of Internet Mukbang(Foodcasting) and Its Hegemonic Process in Media Culture. Media & Society, 24(1), 105-150. Retrieved from: http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/NODE06616212#

So, Lee (2015). Do you know the first ‘meokbang’ in Korea? Retrieved from: http://www.hankookilbo.com/News/Read/201505131197377684

Paytas, Tisha. “Dominos Pizza MUKBANG (Eating Show) | WATCH ME EAT.” YouTube, YouTube, 19 May 2016, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a37DIP7f1zQ.