When it comes to the media and reality, it doesn’t always correspond. The media does a really good job at depicting things to seem as reality, that everything they show is true to how it actually happened. I find myself often interacting with a world of media that has distorted reality, whether it be movies, games, or YouTube. A media form I find myself using more than others is reality TV. I am a big fan of The Bachelorette, and all their spin-offs. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always devoted my Monday nights to watching! The same thing goes for many popular singing shows, my family has always religiously watched American Idol. Of course, until its popularity started declining. Then, we started investing that time into The Voice. However, although I spend a lot of time with reality TV, I found out I spend a lot of time watching content that isn’t true to reality, as well: vlogging.
About 3 years ago, I became really submerged into YouTube and their plethora of videos to choose from to watch. I decided to check out vlogger David Dobrik because I was already familiar with him from Vine, and he seemed popular. Almost immediately I found that I really enjoyed watching his videos, quickly subscribing to them. As time went on, I started to watch the other people David featured in his vlog becoming a fan of the famous group dubbed “The Vlog Squad”. I was having a really good time watching what I thought was a real, raw content from their life. It seemed so entertaining and like they were having so much fun in their normal, regular lives. However, it wasn’t until I learned from our course reading that vlogging isn’t all reality either.
Since I got really into David’s videos, I started following him on other platforms such as podcasts. In his podcast he would tell stories about how they would have “really good bit ideas” and “would have to retake them many times”. It wasn’t until I heard those types of messages that I realized I wasn’t just watching raw, day-to-day content from David’s vlogs. Obviously, I figured as much that he can pick and choose what he includes for the audience via editing, but since it is just a YouTube vlog channel, I didn’t think the altering would be too much. I think it is important that people can recognize these things in David’s blog. Potter says on page 171, “we need to be careful to discern what is the reality and what is the fantasy in those programs.” Very often David plays cruel, yet funny jokes on his friends on videos. To me, a normal viewer, I understand these are just comical bits. However, to someone else they might think David is posting negative, harmful content.
In conclusion, I have decided that David’s vlog is not as real as I once thought so. He stages a lot of his popular content, altering its accuracy to how real it is. He often leaves controversial content or leaves certain content purposely to shape an image of something else being portrayed. However, according to Medium.com, YouTube has implemented many safety rules to their website. Maybe, some vloggers have no choice but to re-do things or make up scenarios for the sake of content in compliance with YouTube policy. Studybreaks.com says that vlogging is going to be the “new reality TV” and I couldn’t agree more.
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