I'm writing this little peace one specific Youtube channel in mind - CTFxC also known as Charles Trippy Friend Core aka Internet Killed Television. It is a fairly popular channel on Youtube and one of the most popular among the vloggers part of Youtube. To those not familiar with the concept, he is a guy who vlogs his daily life making it a form of reality show. The questions and problems I'm going to discuss are certainly not exclusive to this channel and is more or less directed to the majority of vloggers on Youtube and their viewer base. But to keep things simple I'm using CTFxC as an example as it is arguably the most controversial one, at least at the moment.Internet has created a new form of reality TV except it's not on TV anymore - it uses the Youtube platform which has somewhat reimagined the concept of reality shows. The main differences are that first, it is more reality and basically unscripted(at least it seems so). Secondly, the viewer base(and vice versa) can get in touch with their favorites through the comment section and/or social media. This creates an unique relationship between the content creators and fans. Reality tv has been a big seller as a format during the last decade. People invest their time to have a candid glimpse into other peoples lives and now with the internet, they have a voice in those shows, they have contact and that's where things have gotten a bit off. A big number of viewers have become deeply emotionally connected to other peoples personal lives. They feel like they are a part of it, for some it is just entertainment, for some, it is a daily fix as they live through the emotions through the computer screen. For some who don't have personal lives it has become their personal life! As for the creator, it becomes a business(definitely there is more to it but we will get to it later).
Now I'm not an avid follower of any vlogger in Youtube but some year and a half ago I stumbled across this channel(CTFxC) and found it lighthearted and somewhat entertaining. So I backtracked, saw that they have quite a history of sharing their life on the internet, I checked out some other similar youtubers(eg. bfvsgf etc.) and so on. As i did that I grew more interest in what makes certain people who walk around with a camera, edit 10 minutes of it to the internet every day, so successful? Whats the appeal? Well, they all have one thing in common - they are all couples, no drama, they seem to lead quite perfect lives. Yes, some share their struggles in life with this and that but the relationships tend to be flawless. It can't be real, can it? I don't think so. So as I see it, the main selling point seems to be perfect relationships mixed with pretty well off lives(oh and cute animals tend to be a must also).
Now back to CTFxC. This is certainly an interesting one to say the least. Especially the main man Charles Trippy. It all fell into the category described before. But then after one video everything changed. He and his wife, former Ally Trippy got divorced and shit totally hit the fan. Internet went ballistic and still is to this day. This one thing(divorce) which is nothing unusual created a massive shitstorm. Fans were shocked to tears as they were living through the pain themselves. That all was followed with absurdly rude accusations to both sides of the party, rumors were spread from every hole in the internet. In comparison, nobody gives fuck when Kim Kardashian marries or gets plowed in the ass. But this one separation of two people was and is drama in the internet like never before. But why? Because viewers(some who have been watching for 5 years) have invested so much in it that they seriously feel like a part of the relationship and you can't blame them. They were made to believe so. They were told they are family, they were told that they are shown everything. This started slowly to show cracks in the whole internet-reality concept. The aftermath of it has been such a clusterfuck and some people see through the shit now. As I see it, it's merely a business and every single one who has bought into it has been cheated. You, the viewers are the directors and you are shown only what you want to see. You are shown what rakes in the dead presidents. Nothing more, nothing less.
So why am I saying that internet is killing itself? Because I think this goes for all the big vloggers on Youtube. It's bullshit. God knows how many of those relationships are held together by money and money only. It clearly isn't a feasible business model anymore and knowing this, it would be dumb to give any views or support to any of them. They all might have started with good intentions but money gets in the way. It's their livelihood and it's just directly feeding off of people who don't see through the bullshit. So the "unique relationship" you feel you have with them and their animals I was talking about earlier is just an illusion. At this point they are simply prostituting themselves, dumbing things down, squeezing crocodile tears, basically doing anything they can just to push that "it's my real life" shit down your throat. I really do hope that this is not the direction we, well mainly the young ones are moving towards because in that light, things look pretty dark. Then again, it's only how I see it.
