The greatest freak out ever.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLDe6oX_ekNqmWzdJQXSmSw
The above video is called "the greatest freak out ever." This video is not alone, however. It is actually a whole series and if you have a while, I would recommend clicking the above link to his channel on YouTube and watching some. I binge watched all of them because of the pure amazement I have at these individuals. However, while watching them I began thinking about why this boy feels he needs to post these videos on Youtube. The videos were funny at first but then as I began to watch more and more, I became concerned about him. I began to think, this kid must not have ANYONE to vent to! If I had a brother like this, and parents who just seemingly nurtured this bad attitude and if I lived in this poor family situation (assuming this is all legit) I would be embarrassed to post videos of my dysfunctional life! Then I realized he is the product of our generation. This kid posts these videos because he has no other outlet. Social networking is part of our lives naturally these days but it seems to me that this kid is suffering from a lack of social gratification and way to express these frustrations he goes through in everyday life. So, like many, he has chosen a mediated outlet. This individual may be struggling from loneliness, so he expresses things through his YouTube channel to find others similar to him or reach out to find friends. According to Stephen Marche's article "Is Facebook making us lonely?" (May 1, 2012) "According to a major study by a leading scholar onf the subject, roughly 20 percent of Americans - about 60 million people - are unhappy with their lives because of loneliness. Acroos the Western world, physicians and nurses have begun to speak openly of an epidemic of loneliness." Marche then goes on to quote Burke as saying "people whose friends write to them semi-publicly on Facebook experience decreases in loneliness." I awould apply this to the situation of the kid above. I would say that by him posting the videos on YouTube, it allows him to get people to respond to him and it, in turn, creates less loneliness. I mean, we can only assume this guy is super lonely. His brother is obviously not fun to hang out with at all. It also seems like his parents are barely involved with anything. This guy has every reason to want to reach out on social media. Loneliness has actually been found to alter the DNA of chronically lonely older humans, according to the article. (Marche, 2011) So this guy was probably going through a tough time. But, he must be careful because we know that if you only establish these weak ties that come through social media, you could begin to lack strong ties and good relationships. If you watch these, I hope you enjoy... hopefully someone else can blog about it!