New version
Nowadays, it’s become a blame game… Who should be held responsible for the offensive behavior displayed by many young individuals? Is it the parents? The teachers? The family? Or perhaps the young persons themselves? While the answer is not entirely straightforward, the true culprits behind this issue can be found elsewhere.
So, who are the actual problem? The answer may not come as a surprise when you consider what most youth consume: celebrities. However, these celebrities are not necessarily actors, musicians, or authors as in the past. Nowadays, the focus has shifted to internet personalities, particularly vloggers and streamers who are active on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. These individuals are viewed as examples by the youth, much like traditional celebrities were in the past.
One well-known example is PewDiePie, a Swedish YouTube celebrity with nearly 14 billion views and almost 49.5 million subscribers. While he has faced criticism from adults, he isn’t as bad as some might think. In fact, he has donated close to 1 million United States dollars to charities and foundations supporting nature and children. Although most of his income comes from fundraising and ad revenues, his impact on social causes cannot be ignored. It’s important to note that the precise amount of his ad revenues remains undisclosed, as some of his videos may not be monetized due to copyright claims. Additionally, PewDiePie’s unverified Twitter account sends a strong message that fame doesn’t always require verification. He focuses on addressing important issues, such as his recent criticisms of YouTube and his promise to delete his YouTube account once he reaches 50 million subscribers.
So, why is PewDiePie not a bad example? Although he may use swear words and be politically incorrect at times, that’s about as far as his negative aspects go. However, if we examine another example, namely “Leafy,” we will encounter a true problem.
Leafy is a popular vlogger on YouTube and streamer on Twitch, boasting approximately 5 million subscribers and nearly 1 billion total views. He is the epitome of a bad example, frequently engaging in swearing, discrimination, racism, flaming, blaming, shaming, cyberbullying, trolling, and even doxing. The list of his offensive behaviors seems never-ending and is regularly shared on his online profiles. This is why I refrain from sharing any URLs linked to his profiles, as I don’t wish to associate with him.
Nevertheless, Leafy is just one example among hundreds of vloggers and streamers who spread hatred and have now attained celebrity status. These users are often young adults (between 18 and 30) or even older adults (30 years and above), whom young people (between approximately 12 and 18) look up to as role models. These celebrities are more to blame than the result, as is often the case with any role model.
Commonly, these individuals argue that they wouldn’t be as popular without their offensive behavior and question why they should stop if people are avidly watching their content. While there may be hundreds of reasons to address, it’s not the most important aspect to focus on since their actions will always have some form of reflection. Instead, we should explore why these users spread such content.
As you might have guessed, it all comes down to money. Like celebrities throughout history, these “new” celebrities are primarily driven by financial gain. Although we could delve into the ongoing copyright debate, which is complex due to exorbitant prices, these internet celebrities earn money for essentially doing nothing exceptional. Instead of engaging in activities that contribute positively to society during their free time, outside of school and work, they focus on generating content that often lacks substance. And as always, once money becomes a factor, people become obsessed with obtaining it. This creates a sort of addiction to money, which raises the question of whether we should categorize their behavior as an addiction.
However, the crux of the matter lies in the fact that these new celebrities exert a significant influence on youth behavior. Despite being viewed as sources of inspiration, they should, in fact, be seen as the opposite. While they may attempt to appear altruistic by making donations to charities or briefly sharing someone’s name to provide them with a moment of fame, these acts are primarily strategies to enhance their own popularity and fame. Unfortunately, when young individuals watch this content on a daily basis, they become accustomed to the idea that such behavior is acceptable. This undermines the efforts of parents to raise well-behaved children, leading to the creation of a society filled with hate and disrespect.
Old version (Who Are Behind The Current “Youth Problem”?)
Nowadays it is a true blaming game…
Yes, as most of you could have guessed already, who is responsible for the fact that many young persons are highly offensive…
Are it the parents? – No.
Are it the teachers? – No.
Are it the family? – No.
Are it the young persons themselves? – Partially, but the answer actually remains, No.
So who are the actual problem you might ask?
Well, it shouldn’t be hard to figure this one out yourselves, as what does most youth watch?
Yes, indeed, the problems are in fact…
Celebrities.
So, actors, musicians, authors and such?
Well, not necessarily.
While once celebrities were that, nowadays most “celebrities” to youth are at the internet, most often they are either vloggers or streamers.
These users, most often active at YouTube and Twitch, are seen as examples, as much as previously actors, musicians and such were.
The most known example is the Swedish PewDiePie, that is a given.
This YouTube celeb has almost 14 billion views, and almost 49 and half million subscribers.
It may seem weird of me to state, but while he has been massively criticized by adults, he ain’t as bad as you might have thought.
With currently an amount of close to 1 million United States dollars being donated to charities and foundations in support of nature and children, even though most money has come through fundraising and ad revenues, it ain’t like he hasn’t done good.
(NOTE: With his amount of viewers and views, his current total ad revenues are stated to be between 10 to 100 times that amount… Precise information is only able to be revealed by himself, this because of some videos possibly being unable to be monetized because of copyright claims.)
However, with currently an unverified Twitter account, he sets an important statement of not needing a verified status to be famous, which he without any doubt is.
But not just that, he dares to focus on problems that are happening, like his recent Anti-YouTube statements and the promise of deleting his YouTube account once he reaches the 50 million are known examples of.
But why is PewDiePie most certainly not a bad example?
Well, while PewDiePie uses swear words, and is politically incorrect at times, that is pretty much all you could say…
When we look at another example, which would be a guy known as “Leafy”, we will truly notice the problem.
Leafy is an popular (YouTube) vlogger and (Twitch) streamer, with currently about 5 million subscribers and slowly closing the 1 billion views total.
This user is however the best example I could give of a bad example, with swearing, discrimination, racism, flaming, blaming, shaming, cyber-bullying, trolling, griefing(not to be confused with Grieving), doxing… Well, there is too many more things I could name, so basically a close to unending list of bad, regularly shared at his online profiles.
It is not for no reason that I do not share no URL of his profiles, as I do not want him linked to me…
Yet, leafy is just one example of the current hundreds of vloggers and streamers with similar lists of spreading actual hatred, that are officially named celebrities by now.
These users often are however already either young adults(Between ages 18 and 30) or actual adults(30 years and up) which young persons/youth(Between ages ~12 and 18) look to as examples.
They are the actual current examples for youth, and like any example, they are often more to blame than the result, which is unable to be denied.
Now, the most common things these people often react are: that they could not be as popular without doing bad, and why they should stop if people are watching that much.
Let’s start off with the fact that it is actually correct that sharing bad examples is why they are so popular, as the funny yet rude channel of Dane Boedigheimer “The Annoying Orange” shows.
With a rather low Twitter follower amount of about 265 thousand, and similar statistics of just Leafy at YouTube shows, while we are talking here about fully original content of 1 profile, unlike the basically all too similar content the hundreds of offensive vloggers and streamers share, and enough television appearances that would make of the vloggers and streamers drool…
It should be no competition, but the vloggers and streamers win, which is not what you would expect, the only true difference being named remains the fact that these people take it from rude to offensive.
So.. would we get anything better by answering the second question?
The answer remains no, as while there are hundreds of valid reasons that could be called upon, this is not an actual important thing to think of, as they will always get reflected some way…
What we rather should look at is why these users do in fact spread this content.
As you could have guessed, like also celebrities have shown throughout the ages, it is all about the money.
While we could say a lot about the ongoing copyright discussion, which is a hard discussion as prices actually rightly called are too expensive..
These “new” celebrities actually get money for basically doing nothing, as what these vloggers and streamers most often share is what we call “free time”, the time outside of school and work, instead of doing anything that is actually special. And like we always have seen, once money comes into the question, people go crazy to get it…
They actually will go into a sort of “addicted mode”, which is why we should be asking ourselves if it is not right to actually just call this an addiction to money.
However, to get back to the point of all of this, the new way of celebrities are behind most of the acts of youth, as they are seen as inspirations, even though they should be the exact opposite.
These people often try to look better by donating to charities, or sharing someone’s name to give him/her a short moment of fame, but these acts are not truly acts of kindness, rather ways of building even more popularity and fame.
Yet, while youth are watching this, most often on a daily basis, they get accustomed to the ideas that what they share is right to do, causing that parents could try to educate and bring up a good child, while eventually, these celebrities causing it all to be undone, and eventually creating a hateful and disrespectful society…
