A Decade of YouTubers
One thing about me, I love a good, humorous, and unique YouTuber.
I’ve been watching YouTube since I was about 13 years old. While I’m much older now, I’ve watched A LOT, from vloggers to commentators. Here’s just a little insight, list, and exploration into my YouTube journey! Maybe you’ve watched some of the people I mention, in which case I would love to hear your thoughts on them! Or, maybe you don’t know the first thing about any of these people or what they do; in this case I hope you read on to gain some random knowledge and insight into something new and different.
Phase 1
When I was younger, I was into lifestyle YouTubers like Daniel Howell (my personal fave), Phil Lester, Jessie Paege, Joe Sugg, Connor Franta, Zoella, Troye Sivan, and Caspar Lee, to name a few. These people are known as ‘vloggers’ who basically live life and video record all the interesting and exciting things they do. Sometimes, they’ll document unique experiences or sit down and have a casual video giving advice or having a Q&A with fans. I am welllllll versed in the British YouTuber Universe that existed during that time period. When these YouTubers collabed, it was some of the most highly anticipated and exciting moments I and hundreds of thousands of other people looked forward to greatly. Watching people like Dan Howell talk about mental health has directly influenced me to go into a career related to it, really showing just how influential these people can be.
You might be asking yourself why on Earth you’d care about what some random person online was doing with their life. Great question. I presume that as a young teenager, it was simply exciting and new for me to see people slightly older than me doing so many cool things with their life. It probably inspired me and gave me ideas and hopes for my own future. For me, the biggest appeal to these vloggers was in interesting life they lived; I learned about a bunch of different ways of life, and I felt included in their journey as they experienced life.
Phase 2
Then, I was into comedy- and sketch-style YouTubers, like the Dolan Twins, Liza Koshy, Simply Nailogical, Luke Korns, and Lilly Singh. From this era, I have strong memories of obsessing over holographic (“holo”) nail polish and taking quizzes with my best friend as we figure out which Dolan Twin is most suited to be our boyfriends. Typical teenage stuff. Unfortunately, I also liked YouTubers such as David Dobrik, James Charles, and Shane Dawson, but I no longer support them as people so they don’t get fancy hyperlinks under their name like the rest of them.
These people made content out of relatable situations, like Liza Koshy visiting Target or the Dollar Store or Lilly Singh talking about the Struggles of ___ or Types of ___. Lilly’s one of the most popular YouTubers in general and in this category, which also allowed her to have a bunch of popular celebrities like the Rock guest star in her videos as well.
I’m mostly over this phase now, but people like Simply Nailogical still manages to make me laugh and watch nail art tutorials that I am far too ill-equipped to do. I am still into the lifestyle videos too, as people like Emma Chamberlain still gain the occasional view as I loosely keep up with her life and enjoy her sense of humor.
Phase 3.1
Here’s a channel that is simply so impactful that it deserves a whole phase segment on its own: Jubilee. I remember having quite the obsession with Jubilee’s Middle Ground series in its early days, where two opposing groups come together to find, you guessed it, a middle ground. I cannot recommend this series enough, it’s opened my eyes and expanded my understanding of others greatly. Another phenomenal series they do is known as Spectrum, where they have various people belonging to one group agree/disagree and discuss their differences. If there’s one thing you take away from this article, I hope it’s this channel. If you click on the playlist links above, I assure you you’ll find something of interest. I think it’s suitable and enjoyable for anyone, of any age.
Phase 3.2
While these phases blended and overlapped into each other, my current phase is perhaps my most enjoyable one. Now, it’s mostly commentary/reaction YouTubers. Danny Gonzalez, Cody Ko, and Kurtis Conner are my favorites. A few notable ones in this category are also Drew Gooden and Noel Miller. A lot of these creators have been popular on the Internet for a while now, such as the ever-famous “Road Work Ahead” Vine by Drew.
Danny, Kurtis, and Drew have been friends for a while, and they’ve made some hilarious videos together in the past, even going on a comedy show tour together. Cody and Noel are perhaps most known for their That’s Cringe series, giving me some of my fondest memories watching YouTube.
Now, it would be boring to just sit around and watch other people review or talk about any given show, movie, event, trend, or concept. Most of these YouTubers don’t just critique and analyze their chosen topic, but they usually go the extra mile to create a couple funny sketches, unique comedic songs, spend money and time on products/travel, and have their own merch that’s filled with personal slogans and fandom inside jokes. In addition, many of them have podcasts or stream on Twitch, showcasing more of their personality and immersing themselves further into other platforms to grow their audience. They make a lot of money from sponsorships, where they spend about a minute or two advertising for them within their YouTube video. They even manage to make that enjoyable to watch because they add their own sense of humor and creativity to promoting the product.
If you like humorous, creative people that analyze content, produce entertaining commentary, talk about pop culture, and review things like movies, TV shows, or products you’re too lazy to try yourself, then you’ll like these people (or, there’s the possibility you’ll find them painfully unfunny. Oh well.) They talk about popular stuff, but also niche things that make their content different from YouTubers of the same caliber. They are all quite skillful in combining a myriad of things that both get their points across, but also provide unique entertainment that sets them apart from other creators that fall within their genre of video content.
Regardless of the phase of life I was in when I watched these YouTubers, it’s absolutely crazy to look back and see the chokehold they had on me. I outgrew many of the YouTubers I mentioned, especially from the earlier phases of my life. I still check in on some of these people every now and then, and I don’t know, there’s something so crazy about seeing how much they’ve grown from the image I had of them when I was younger (I sound like such a proud mom here, I’m sorry). But like, wow, they really do grow up so fast! I feel like I’ve almost grown up alongside them. Despite them not knowing me personally at all and us never having a conversation, it’s quite crazy to consider how connected I feel all these years later knowing they’ve shaped me in some unique way.
Well, that’s all I got for you! I hope you liked what you read and check out some of the creators linked in the article! Feel free to drop any questions or comments and let me know if you watch any of these people too! Thanks for reading, and here’s some more material by and about me if you want to check it out:
