Forming online friendships is not a bad thing; it does have its benefits. The more people you meet through common interests, the more fun you get to have bonding over that. I've formed a couple great friendships over Facebook for that very reason and it's been fun getting to know more about those people. It IS possible to make connections and it feels great when you know that there's someone on the other side who cares about you, even if you've never met them in person. The Internet can be a good place to turn to for new friends.
Over-sharing information about your personal life to people you don't know on the Internet can be slippery. You have to be careful with your words because a lot of people these days know how to take advantage of you without your knowing consent. Everything you post on the Internet DOES stay on there forever, even if you delete it.
YouTube is a platform of its own where content creators can make videos that they love and enjoy. It's also a market of its own and people have made money off of making videos based on their personal interests and hobbies. And while I'm all for being entertained by YouTube creators, I still maintain those safety precautions because even the most famous YouTube creators can be different from how they seem to be on screen. Does that mean that I'm not a fan of their work? No, it doesn't. I still enjoy their content and can watch it as much as I want to. But the thing here with YouTube is that once you've invested time into it, the system can either become an extension of your life or can become a destruction to your mind and body. I feel that it's easy to get too invested into these creators' lives and forget about your own life, and the same can happen to the creators themselves. People who make YouTube a profession have a choice either maintain balance between this and their social lives, or they can just let the system drag them down. When your job is YouTube, reality can start to slip and suddenly all you care about is the numbers you're getting (in views and in money).
YouTube is an entertainment site in the most general sense. It's target audience is anyone and everyone from age 13 to age 90. But even then, the overall demographic that half the channels on here gets is primarily teenagers or young adults. And why is that, you may ask? Well, if you've noticed the target age for content creators, most of them are seemingly young and attractive. With all of this being said, it's easiest for the common teenager to become instantly hooked into the YouTube culture (the same can be said with celebrities). Most content creators, no matter how old they are, how attractive they are, or what kind of content they're creating, should be aware of what kind of audience they're gaining and use their power to help their viewers and reach out to them. YouTube is becoming more popular these days because of its easy access and such; there's a video out there for nearly every subject in life, and that can be helpful for when you don't want to listen to a lecture or read a blog. But every creator out there on YouTube has the power to do something more with their channel and become a good influence in this community; I truly hope that every person out there is aware of this. So here's my message to the YouTube world:
USE YOUR CHANNEL TO SPREAD POSITIVITY. Be a good influence to your viewers because they look up to you; you are their role model. Don't let yourself get sucked into drama and stay true to yourself. And even though I don't know you personally, I hope you know that you more than just a face being recorded on camera; people care about you. Continue making people happy with the content you're creating because somehow, it does make an impact on your viewers' lives.
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