In an attempt to avoid spending time stuck alone with my thoughts, I have begun to fall asleep listening to extra-long podcasts, audiobooks and YouTube videos.
The genre of commentary videos on YouTube tend to be well-researched and detailed analyses of various subjects. They often have a thesis that most of the research is in support of and they routinely take a heavily opinionated stance.
In the light of the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni situation, lots of commentary and drama channels chimed in with opinions. Most of these videos seemed to lean against Lively and it seemed like the evidence stacked up against her.
A lot of my friends seemed to share this sentiment. They seemed to find Lively’s behavior annoying and I don’t know a single person who wasn’t on Baldoni’s side. That is until more information came out about their lawsuits and there was an overload of information.
I watched several YouTube videos about the story out of curiosity and slowly found myself echoing the opinions of the YouTubers I watched. I did not read the articles referenced in the videos, I did not conduct any research by myself and I used less critical thinking than I’d like to admit.
Although subjects like these do not impact my daily life by a long shot, I found myself falling into a pattern of these tendencies. My opinion on Greek life is shaped greatly by Jordan Theresa’s Bama Rush video.
I relied on reaction channels and rap commentators for information on the Kendrick-Drake beef, and I even used these videos as inspiration for story pitches sometimes.
In other words, commentary YouTubers have become a way for me to keep up with pop culture news, and I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.
Thanks to the algorithm, I seldom watch videos I disagree with — I am only recommended videos I am likely to agree with, and I only click on videos that serve my interests. It is obvious why this is a problem since I now think that all my delusions have a solid basis.
I must be right if over a million people agree with me, right?
Sadly, I think I’m the only one passively listening to Drew Gooden for his rants about AI instead of just for the jokes he makes sometimes.
Noticing this problem and taking a politics class featuring conversations about critical thinking meant I saw the hole I had dug myself into and I had to get out. I knew I needed to be intentional with the content I consume, I just had to figure out how.
When I was feeling particularly motivated to achieve this goal, I added a bunch of content I aspired to consume to my ‘Watch Later’ playlist on YouTube. I followed news podcasts on Spotify so I could listen to something other than Brittany Broski. I followed and liked career development content on Instagram.
I was surprised by what an easy fix that was — I had manipulated the key players in my media diet into only showing me content I aspired to consume, so when I wanted to watch something while I ate lunch, my only options would be Hank Green videos and oddly specific history deep dives. (Don’t ask me why that is my new and improved media diet).
Realistically, only consuming content that challenged my beliefs or taught me something new was not sustainable — I had grown used to falling asleep to Binging with Babish trying ramen and Film Cooper reacting to influencers.
That’s what my internet diet looks like now. It is not balanced, but it is varied. Sometimes, I even watch real news.
Edited by Andrew Dirst, Sophia Ramirez and Natalia Jarrett.
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Kasturi TaleThe Echo Reporter
Kasturi is a sophomore studying journalism. This is her third semester with The State Press. She has her own blog and has worked in creative writing.