As Youtube becomes more and more embroidered into the fabric of everyday life, a quick scan through the comment on most videos (mainly the music ones) will provide you with strong evidence that the
As Youtube becomes more and more embroidered into the fabric of everyday life, a quick scan through the comment on most videos (mainly the music ones) will provide you with strong evidence that the comments are influenced by a series of trends.
This in itself, of course, isn’t totally unbelievable. Trends are nothing new, and one only has to look at social media sites like Twitter, which centres largely on the idea of something trending, to realise the omnipotence of the snowball effect in the World Wide Web. The term ‘to go viral’ is another prime example.
But what is it about the recurring themes of Youtube’s judgement passers that I find more tedious than others? Perhaps on reading the title for this piece a couple may have already sprung to mind. If not, here are five examples that have began to toil with my enjoyment of Youtube like ants at a picnic.
1 – Stating your age in relation to liking something.
I’m not sure why this has become a popular thing to point out amongst the younger viewers of Youtube. ‘I’m six and I love this.’ Congratulations young sir, have a cream bun for being brilliant. I would be more impressed at the fact a six year old can operate a computer so profoundly, if I wasn’t convinced it is actually some sad, lonely old man, with nothing left but the click of his like button to make him feel happy.
2 – A gargantuan reminiscence of something long ago, which blatantly did not happen.
I started to notice this under videos of hit songs from the 1970s and 80s. Someone will comment with something like: ‘It was 1972. Mother was making a lemon pie whilst Father played his tin whistle on the porch. I saw my first love across the road skipping rope. I was eight years old. This song was on the radio at the time. Oh the memories.’ How can everybody’s memory of songs be like the opening paragraph of some awful Danielle Steele novel? Perhaps I am being too cynical and Youtube is delightfully imbued with a swarm of wonderful, nostalgic souls, but each time I read a comment like this I can’t help but be sceptical.
3 – Relating absolutely everything to Justin Bieber.
This seems like something that is never going to end. You direct yourself to a nice bit of blues by Eric Clapton, scroll down, and some chap will have stated: ‘wow, this guy is so much better than Justin Bieber!’ Why has that happened? Since when did Justin Bieber become the gauge of what is right and wrong about the past and present? I have seen him used as a comparison to all kinds of things, from Iron Maiden to Mozart. Baffling.
4 – ‘OMG HOW CAN ANYONE DISLIKE THIS!?!?’
Answer: The same way that you dislike something. Moving on.
5 – Asking for ‘thumbs up’ based on where your knowledge of a song came from.
The thing that gets me about this, is that when I hear a song on a television show, I can just picture swarms of people slithering toward their computers to proudly claim the show sent them there, or to smugly inform the world that they are a fountain of musical knowledge. In the grand scheme of things, everyone on the page now knows the song, so let’s just leave it there.
There are others I am sure which I have overlooked which are equally as irksome. But in summary, if you are reading this and you write some of the aforementioned on Youtube videos, well, don’t. It is pretty annoying.
