YouTube: Broadcast Yourself (every single inch) (Consumer Guide for Today's Media)

YouTube: Broadcast Yourself (every single inch)

By Ava Dinges

The other day in class, a student made a comment that got me thinking yet again about the many ways new media has made an impact on young society. He mentioned how fast videos of the KU Final Four Mass Street riots made it onYouTube, with some videos posted within hours. Not to say that any of the quick turnaroundvideos had any sort of merit, but I hear being the fastest YouTuber may score you well with the ladies.

YouTube’s trademark slogan is “Broadcast Yourself”, and I can’t think of a better way to describe the way the young generation treats these new forms of media. Sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, give us the potential to broadcast any sort of detail of our lives, with some people taking this much too literally. I remember visiting a “friends” facebook page once only to find her Newsfeed littered with her hour by hour activities and feelings:

So and so is bored right now.... Posted at 3:30 p.m.
So and so is doing homework, yuck!.... Posted at 4 p.m.
So and so loves her boyfriend...Posted at 5 p.m.

(I think you get the picture).

All I’m saying is that people have become obsessed with sharing their story with the world because of new media;or maybe society has always been obsessed with this, yet finally has the means to actually do it. People might give you funny looks if you started handing out pictures from your last bar escapade, but that’s essentially what’s happening on social networking sites. I can’t remember the last time I took a picture with my digital camera without someone shouting, “you better tag that on Facebook.”

I often wonder what kind of impact the ability to broadcast ourselves has on our lives. It has obviously changed the way we share our lives (I can typically stay connected with the lives of my friends back home without ever having to pick up the phone, just by looking at their profiles on Facebook). But I also wonder if this ability also impacts the way we live our lives. From a personal note, I’ve seen a difference in my life. I’m definitely more careful about the pictures I let even my friends take of me, knowing they could haunt me online. And I’ve noticed a tendency for content in the online realm to spark more arguments and rumors in real life. Your boyfriend may not have seen you go out with your friends in that skimpy mini skirt, but he’ll definitely have it shoved in his face through pictures the next time he goes online.

It’s great to “broadcast yourself” and all, but some things cross the unnecessary, irrelevant, and the what-the-heck-were-you-thinking-when-you-posted-that line.

Posted by Ava Dinges on April 1, 2008 10:55 PM | Permalink

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