The internet has brought us many good and many bad things. One of the latter is arguably YouTube.
The thing that really bugs me with it is when you have self-confessed gurus, icons or people who seem to think they are some kind of God telling you that you should do something. I have never been very good at doing what I am told, so this is not a good start.
Common phrases are:
- You must take it to the next level
- You are not progressing
- If you want to be better
- You should do this
- You have to remember
- You must do this
- I do this, so should you if you want to be successful
- Don’t buy this
- You must buy this
- Why I changed from Brand X to Brand Y
- I have lots of people ask me…
Perhaps they have enlarged heads with that ego and have to walk sideways through doors. There is rarely any consideration of the viewer’s own intelligence, desire or intent, and there is an assumption that we all want to hear their opinions and not have our own.
I would not mind so much if the information was factually correct, and so often it is presented as that but is just an opinion, albeit based on their own experience.
One area that really grabs my goat is film stock and lenses. Many of the YouTubers are too young to remember film when it was all that anyone could use. The comments made about the difference between stock x and y are sometimes just rubbish. It does not tie in with the manufacturer information that is freely available, and they add wild comments that seem to be for effect with no evidence or factual back-up.
There lies the rub… YouTubers should not be relied upon as your only source of information. I suppose that is obvious really. Do your own research. This thing called the internet is great for getting a balanced perspective and forming your own well-informed decisions.
