YouTube Videos

Attila went the Emergency Department at the hospital last night, the injury to his ankle was becoming more and more painful. He was there for five hours, most of which was spend in a hard plastic chair in the waiting room, waiting for the results of the x-ray. Thankfully nothing is broken, it is a soft tissue issue, and the Emergency Department has no further interest, so sent him home with instructions to see his family doctor, and to rest the leg and foot for two days. Attila is sleeping right now, and will probably spend most of his day in bed, or sitting on the back porch when he gets tired of sleeping. Is that a thing, getting tired of sleeping?

He will see the Nurse Practioner later this week, so hopefully she will be helpful.

Projects for Attila are “off-line” for the next little while, until this leg and ankle heal properly.

I have been experimenting with YouTube. Watching videos with subject matter that is of some interest to me, I am following several dozen content creators. I have been very selective in the content I am watching.

Most of the content creators engage respectfully with the comments, whether they agree with them or not, the subject is explored respectfully. Those are the creators who are operating from a position of sharing, which allows for reciprocation of ideas and information.

Very few content creators react negatively to sharing comments, actually I have only observed two so far. What I noticed about both of these creators, was that they routinely went through the comments on their videos, loving every “yay you”, “you are amazing” comment, and ignoring all sharing comments made by viewers.

While looking at this phenomena, I discovered something truly interesting. A sharing comment that was made on a video was discussed as having been made by a “troll”. WOW! I let that sink in for a little while, then went back to have another look at the video and the comments. The comment involved sharing a link to plans for a do-it-yourself off-grid camping air conditioner, as the video content included a discussion about suffering in the heat. To me the comment seemed like a considerate and thoughtful sharing of information. To consider such a comment to be the work of a “troll” is mind-blowing. WOW!

Troll: “Someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”
Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=internet+troll&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-ab

I guess I have a completely different view about what “normal on-topic discussion” means.

YouTube brings the ability to create content and publish it to just about everyone. What is available is truly the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

There are pitfalls to exposing your life online. I think the pitfalls are more numerous for videos than for the written word. The audience for the written word can read with comprehension. The audience watching a video need only their eyes and ears, so it is a much broader audience, and includes people with a less education, and perhaps less analytical ability. That seems to be a media trend, less. In this case less is not more.

One sad situation I witnessed was a family who were creating videos of their mobile lifestyle, with children. One child was struggling with the fishbowl life, and frequently threw toys at the camera, and interrupted other family members to shout, “look at me”, clearly hostile to the camera and the dynamic. The rest of the family laughed at all this, not seeming to see or hear the child’s distress, so very enthralled with their own images were they.

Another sad situation, a woman who for years presented videos, thought very highly of herself, presented a fairy tale life, sought to build a following, then suddenly began complaining about how awful it is to be watched. The attention she sought so obsessively, once attained, was not what she had expected.

Well, like anything else in the big wide world, your mileage may vary. I have stopped watching the creators who are looking for accolades, and regard reasonable feedback as intrusive. Luckily that leaves the vast majority of interesting creator content to enjoy.

Worldly

Weather

21°C
Date: 9:00 AM EDT Monday 20 August 2018
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.1 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 21.3°C
Dew point: 19.2°C
Humidity: 88%
Wind: SE 10 km/h
Humidex: 28
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
1850 – 1894

The secret of “success”.

6 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Teri

“There are pitfalls to exposing your life online. I think the pitfalls are more numerous for videos than for the written word. The audience for the written word can read with comprehension. The audience watching a video need only their eyes and ears, so it is a much broader audience, and includes people with a less education, and perhaps less analytical ability. That seems to be a media trend, less. In this case less is not more.”

And there is a good portion of the problem(s) with the world today. You’ve said a mouthful, Maggie.

Bex

I really only like to watch certain musical performances and how to do yarn work. Sometimes watching someone cook something is good, like in the iPot! But I don’t watch much else. I do love the animal videos that people put on FB, too.

Joan Lansberry

I hope Attila’s ankle heals quickly.