I was playing with my cat today and he grabs the worm toy in his mouth and carries it to a spot when he captures it. It's really adorable. But the first thing in my mind was: this is so cute, I have to share it - but then he moved and the moment was over. Pulling out my phone for some snapshot/video is such an emotional drain on the moment. It's a stupid 21st century idea that somehow sharing your life with strangers through video somehow makes it more worthwhile. The views don't matter, except for $$$. It's like being at a concert and watching it through the iPhone. I can see why having to depend on "authentic video" as one's main source of $$$ has its dissociative/depressing nature. Isn't there a famous quote about how getting paid to do one's hobby often turns it into torment?
Right but a lot of channels like Rachel & Jun don't fake it at all. Maybe that's why they don't seem to have much burnout. Because they aren't putting on an act, or doing anything fueled by insecurity. They just love cats and nature and cooking and whatnot and most of the videos is not extremely edited or stabilized, etc.. they just film while they do some of their cool activities.
I think a lot of these YouTubers feel locked into the persona they created, and just like any lie, it's tough to remember all the details, to be contiguous.. And I'm sure it feels like something they want to get off their chest and start over as themselves.. But they are worried that their audience isn't going to be interested. I think it all depends on the audience.. Some channels have dedicated viewers. Others depend on couchsurfers and SEO/spam/keyword linkage. I think most channels that put out consistent content with consistent subscribers would do fine if they changed it up. It's probably just the level of risk that makes them worry to tears.
