A friend of mine is a huge Perez Hilton fan. We were surfing through his Website the other day when we noticed a video that he had posted featuring a young girl singing her favorite Taylor Swift song. And not very well, at that.
David after the dentist. Courtest of Snoo.ws.
Youtube has a ridiculous number of videos of kids singing and dancing. In fact, the search "kid singing" yields over 53,000 video results. It's just hard to imagine what possesses a 7-year-old to turn on their big sister's webcam and dance around their room. What's even harder to understand is why they would then post the video to YouTube so that 120,000 people can view it.
While I don't understand the thought process behind these videos, they are definitely entertaining. They evoke quite a range of emotions. Some of them are adorable. Some of them are funny. A lot of them are just plain creepy, like this gem below.
If this is your only foray in the world of Tina Chen, take a few minutes and check out her MySpace. The 17-year-old has covers several other classics like this one and even has some original songs.
Many of the kids on YouTube star in their own videos and upload them themselves (hopefully, without their parents' knowledge.) The other aspect of kid-YouTube-sensations are the videos that parents upload of their kids. These videos generally have less of the creepiness factor, but it's still odd that so many parents are willing to broadcast their kids on the web. What could the thought process be on this one? "Honey, little David is all drugged up from his dentist visit! Let's get this one on YouTube!"
David after the dentist. Courtest of Snoo.ws.
The Huffington Post and Esquire featured a countdown of the "Most Messed Up Kids on YouTube" which shows the best videos parents have taken of their drugged children. I can't say this is a fad I'll miss when it passes.
It's not that I'd like the videos to stop coming, because I can spend hours upon hours just watching these kids make fools of themselves. However, their parents need to pay more attention to what their kids are up to when they're on the computer. Stuff like this follows people. David is forever going to be the "post-dental appointment drugged kid" just like that German guy will always be "the Numa Numa guy." Hopefully videos like these won't cause the kids problems later in life.
I am just as guilty as the next person. I could watch, and sometimes do watch, these kids make fools of themselves on youtube for a long time. I think the kids posting the videos of themselves is less disturbing of the parents posting embarrassing videos of their kids! You are absolutely right that stupid online moments can follow people for a long time. I understand a youth not thinking that through before posting a "funny" video of themselves online, but parents should know better!
mmmm...just watched the David after the Dentist video: "Is this real life?", "I have two fingers, four fingers". Funny stuff, sort of.
While I watch him, I almost laugh until I remember the he's a little boy. Throughout the entire video, I was trying to figure out what kind of parents would video tape their drugged up kid and post it for the world to see! Probably the same ones that would put their 5-year-old into those sicko beauty pageants. What pleasure is David's father receiving by posting that video? I can imagine, but I don't want to.
That video is a commentary on the exploitative nature of parents in this country and how the internet can nurture it.
I think the idea behind is youtube is a good one. everyone wants to see themselves on tv, or on the internet. i think it's harmless fun for little kids whose parents tape them. it's like america's funniest home videos online. youtube is also a medium to share videos. maybe the drugged kids parents wanted to share it with family because it was funny. KU has their youtube channel, and KUJH uses youtube to post videos, it's just easy access for people. but i think that people will keep posting themselves doing stupid things online because they like to look at themselves.
I think you make an interesting point. I question if parents know that their children are making videos for youtube--obviously the teenagers not the toddlers singing songs or yelling about the dentist drugs. I am unfamiliar with the requirements youtube has on it's videos, are their regulations on the content? Who even checks the videos? It is a platform for away for people to project themselves and I agree that parents need to have more control or possibly be more aware of what their teenagers are posting on the internet whether this be youtube, facebook, myspace or twitter.
Youtube is an interesting case study on the Jeffersonian ideal where everyone has their own printing press. What happens when you give a kid a computer, a camera and a medium to distribute the videos he makes with the first two? Entertainment. They are kids just being kids and they should be allowed to be kids as long as their parents help them learn when they eventually have to grow up.
That video is hilarious, for the record. And I feel like because his Dad took it and posted it, it's okay for me to look at. But, all those awkward teenagers that post videos of themselves lip-synching to songs are going to be REALLY embarrassed by what they did later. Their parents need to step in and monitor what they're doing more closely.