Social media serves as platform to destroy self-esteem, careers

Olivia+Ashley

Olivia Ashley

Olivia Ashley

Olivia Ashley, Staff Writer

In today’s society, YouTubers are considered “celebrities” in the eyes of their viewers.  Their audience is usually between the ages of 8-16, depending on the content they are providing.  Some teenagers are obsessed with their favorite YouTubers and will never miss an “upload.”  These YouTubers have earned so much money in the past few years, mostly from their ads or sponsors provided in their videos, but is it also because of the drama they produce on the internet?

Trisha Paytas, one very popular YouTuber, is known for many things, including her friendship with Jeffree Star, being overdramatic and her boyfriend Jason Nash.  Her videos consist of mukbangs (buying a ton of food and eating in front of the camera), vlogs and her crying over her boyfriend.  During Jason and Trisha’s relationship, they have gotten in arguments that led to her posting about their issues on YouTube.  In a later video by David Dobrik, both admitted to making a good amount of money off of the dramatic videos they shared online.

Most recently, Trisha was very angry and posted about her boyfriend Jason along with his friends (David Dobrik, Brandon Calvillo and other vlog squad members) who are big in the YouTube community.  In short, she called her boyfriend a creep, compared David to Ted Bundy, and shared personal information she knew about Brandon and his girlfriend to her whole audience.  This caused an overwhelming amount of drama for everyone who saw her video before she took it down.

What is this showing her viewers? That when you have a problem you post it on the internet for everyone to see.  There are countless other YouTubers who do the same as Trisha does, though, which isn’t right.

In my own experience, I see students posting on their social media about their issues with others all the time.  Do they watch videos online, posted by grown adults, doing the same exact thing and think that because they are doing it, it’s okay for them as well.

I believe there is a strong difference between the two; Trisha Paytas gets paid for posting dramatic videos on her account versus when a teenager posts something horrible about another person at school.  That’s called cyberbullying.  Next time you think about posting something on the internet that seems controversial, just don’t bother.  It shows badly on yourself and stays on the internet forever.  Leave the embarrassment to the “professionals.”