Putting the You back in YouTube

I absolutely love YouTube for all the videos that it provides. For instance, on the site, I use it a lot to watch fashion shows that I normally wouldn’t be able to because I don’t have the opportunity to see them live. While watching the video “An anthropological introduction to YouTube,” it was amazing to see much impact this website had on people’s lives. I can understand why people would want to do video blogs in order to express their opinion and views just like a regular blog. However, I think most people that do video blogs have almost the type of exhibitionist and/or aspiring-starlet personality. A lot of videos on YouTube have a sexual overtone; it’s almost like having sex in a park except it’s not illegal to do this type of activity on the web. In the video, most of the explicit content were supposed to be funny, but I can only imagine how much of it is not. I appreciate the fact that YouTube has the Sign Up page where they try to distinguish the adults from the minors in terms of materials to be viewed. Unfortunately, it is easy to lie on the Sign Up page and say you are an adult in order to view the explicit content, which makes the whole purpose of this program seem pointless. On the other side of the coin is the fact that YouTube provides a type of voyeurism where people can view the inner minds of others without being identified. Some would say it is the best form of reality television. What I find the most interesting is the fact that for many vloggers, YouTube is a type of therapy where they can vent their frustration or act out their neuroses. For these types of people, my only question would be, if nobody is watching their videos, does it still help them emotionally? For other vloggers, such as LonelyGirl, YouTube is just an avenue to become famous and possibly get recognition in the mainstream media. No matter what YouTube is used for, I think people should become a little less protective of it and just enjoy it as an entertainment forum.