Head: YouTube-inspired idleness in today’s youth

By: Corea Parks

Senior, multimedia journalism

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I think it is safe to say that the accessibility of technology and the internet has changed the game with how children are influenced in their everyday lives, and often not for the better. We could talk about bullying in schools and on social media or the very popular link people try to make between violence and video games. But I think there is something that is potentially becoming far more controversial by taking the play out of imagination and creating an appeal for children to sit idly while watching others play out the motions for them.

YouTube is one of the top social media platforms used in this generation and is the top video-sharing program across the world. It has helped families keep in touch by recording and sharing intimate family moments. It has helped small-town talents, including Justin Bieber, become noticed and evolve into triple-platinum album-selling artists. However, it has increasingly become an everyday norm for the entertainment of children, arguably more than video games.

Throughout the past week, I have become particularly aware of how often my 7-year-old has kidnapped my iPhone 6 Plus and vanished off into an isolated location. When I find him, he is in a hypnotized state of mind watching a man-child on YouTube record himself while narrating what is going on as he plays some video game. My son calls it “Five Nights of Freddy.” During this narration, this guy is screaming and yelling obnoxiously while leading a gang of degenerates and making humor out of killing everything that gets in their way. Needless to say, I’ve changed my passcode on my phone.

At first, I experienced an ounce of shame as I felt so naïve and wondered how long my child had been watching these videos and how he had even learned how to access them. Then, I started communicating with friends of mine who have kids close in age to my son, and they, too, have been dealing with the same issue of acknowledging these videos and having to aggressively pry their children from watching them as well.

Then, the next week, after successfully (as far as I’m aware) ridding myself from this taunting murderous “hypno-technology,” I go into Meijer to grab a few things from the house and I start looking around, and I see these degenerate YouTube game characters on blankets, as stuffed animals, on toothbrushes and school pens.

Now the point I’m trying to make focuses less on the content of this particular YouTube series, regardless of how disturbing it is, and more on the concept of a viewer sitting idle and finding such pleasure in watching someone else play a game rather than playing it themselves.

This has become a very consistent trend in society today. Reality television has moved from the TV screen to smart phones and has become far more accessible. This accessibility has created a societal norm that has generated a very dangerous sense of idleness in this generation of youth. For instance my son would rather watch a man-child scream at a screen while playing video games than actually play the 20 video games that he has in his room. I tell my son to go outside and play with his friends, and his friends sit in the house, watch football plays and hoax on YouTube rather than create their own in the front yard. 

I’ve never been a fan of video games, especially with the evolution of graphics and how realistic the violence and actions have become. However, at least with video games, you’re able to make your own decisions and create your own sense of being within the games you are playing versus sitting idle and creating a sense of astonishment and pleasure based on the actions and choices of someone else. 

I believe there are great uses for video sharing and the world of YouTube, but like all things YouTube should be pursued in moderation. I think that YouTube is a great tool for enhancing involvement and even motivation. However, once you have become more of a viewer than a doer you have reached the undesirable realm of idleness. This can be particularly damaging for the growth of young people as well, so parents please take a role in YouTube awareness and keep an eye on what your kiddos are searching on the Web.