Normalizing Vlogging
TL;DR
I have stigma of vlogging, afraid that people would judge me when I whip out my camera and point towards myself in public. But maybe I was wrong, maybe vlogging has become normalized and that I shouldn’t be afraid to create anymore.
I was watching Emma Chamberlain’s New York vlog and one line stood out to me:
“[. . .] it's a lot easier to vlog in New York than it is in LA because nobody give a fuck here. [. . .] here, I can hold my camera with pride!”
In combination with another scene where a stranger asked whether she is a YouTuber and had a super chill conversation, this got me thinking about a stigma I have with vlogging, with holding a relatively huge camera to film yourself in public.
Vlogging has become the fundamental of YouTubing, not that people requires to do it, but rather that it is one of the more common types of content that people upload to YouTube. And, honestly, it might as well be the type of content that viewers expects—getting the behind-the-scene look at the YouTuber themselves.
With that said, it is not an easy task.
Not going into what makes a good vlog (that’s a topic for another time 😜), pointing a camera towards yourself while walking is weird . . . or so I thought . . .
This is where all the self-help theories come in; It is weird because I make it weird; It is weird because I think people would have weird looks toward a vlogger. But the question is do they?
That’s why the quote stood out to me so much. Maybe it’s time. I mean, it is 2021 and it seems like everyone and their dog has a YouTube channel. Maybe I’m just overthinking that people would give you weird looks, but that it is totally fine.
What’s the takeaway? Frankly, SHUT UP AND GO ACHIEVE YOUR DREAM!
P.S. I believe that there is more to it than this, e.g., being careful, not flexing your camera and getting robbed. However, as a message to myself as well, I’m tired of being afraid of not creating, of this various things that are essentially bullshit excuses. So, GO!
P.P.S. The idea of vlogging stigma probably stems from the fact that I wanted to be a YouTuber in Thailand since 2014. Back then, becoming a YouTuber is not something that people would know. It is not a career path. It is not something that I know was achievable. I think that’s why I have the stigma. But if I were to use my own mother as a gauge (where she known acknowledge that I was ahead of my time), maybe it IS actually time to fuck all excuses and do it proper.
