Opinions and Accountability as YouTube Grows Up
YouTube continues to showcase the daily lives of countless creators who openly share their beliefs and opinions with millions of viewers. But what happens when YouTubers grow up and those beliefs change?
YouTube is over ten years old, and in that time audiences have been able to follow creators as they grow and evolve as people. The platform has seen vloggers document all the joy and hardships life has to offer. With YouTubers displaying their lives in front of a camera over the last decade, the website has unintentionally created an atmosphere of accountability. Old videos might reveal a creator to hold different opinions or behaviors at various parts of their lives, especially vloggers who document their lives in depth for years. While some viewers may be quick to call that out as hypocrisy, it can also be seen as a sign of growth.
Sharing views and opinions with potentially millions of people on YouTube can make creators more accountable for the words they say and the way they act. “Knowing that I was vocal about [certain beliefs] in the past holds me accountable to reconsider my position on things,” explained Chris Sanders of the geek-centered motivational channel Csandreas. “I almost feel like I owe it to my community to be a good influence and hold to some beliefs that otherwise would have slipped.”
Chris Sanders started the Csandreas channel in 2010 when he was 26 years old. His viewers have seen every major milestone of his recent life. They watched his story as he started embracing geek and nerd culture, went through a divorce, got kicked out of his apartment, and started dating again. Because Chris has documented his life experiences in depth over nearly a decade, certain beliefs he’s held have significantly changed over that time, so much so that he refers to his past self as different people (Married-Chris, Single-Chris, Dating-Chris, etc.).
This distinction between a YouTuber’s past and present self is echoed by other creators. Dylan is an 18-year-old YouTuber who has been on the site since he was a child. He currently makes videos about comic books under the alias Auram, but previously made self-described “cringy” videos between the ages of nine to fourteen revolving around video games and vlogging under the name Chaomaster5522. “I kind of label them as two different beings in my head, but mostly as a joke,” Dylan said about his current and former internet aliases. He explains, “I’m hyper aware that’s who I was and am not at all embarrassed.”
Of course, the comment section shouldn’t go overlooked in this discussion. If a creator shares an opinion in a video, there will always be vocal, opposing commenters. And while there are certainly users who take things to unnecessary extremes, being subjected to differing viewpoints can cause creators to reevaluate their beliefs, which could either strengthen or weaken their stances. In either case, it’s still growth.
Creators — especially younger ones — shouldn’t be judged based off their old videos. To paraphrase author Steven Pinker in his book “The Language Instinct,” it’s a cruel logical error to assume the 2005 version of you is “the same person” as the 2017 version of you. This idea demonstrates the depth of YouTube: It shows us real people going through their lives, changing and evolving as we all do. The internet is written in ink, but humans are a bit more fluid.
My bias: I’ve been on YouTube since 2012, and even in that short period of time, I see myself as a completely different person than I was back then. I used to make dumb, homophobic jokes for the sake of “comedy” and I held different religious and political beliefs than I do now. I don’t want people now to judge me based on those old videos.