The first sign is the ever-attached headphones. Some kids are stealthy and use earbuds; but those who kick it old school sport the clunky little ear speakers that your dad used back in the ’70s. There may be an indentation in the seat where your kid sits, possibly for hours at a time if left uninterrupted. Then, you notice how quiet your child is, except for the occasional shrieks of joy or despair. If you’re unlucky, those yelps are punctuated with occasional, random F-bombs. Perhaps that’s the first time you intervene.
Welcome to the world of Gaming YouTubers. We olds (read: parents) have been scratching our collective heads for a few years now, marveling that kids, especially middle-schoolers, can spend endless hours watching someone else play and narrate a video game. In trying to understand the phenomenon, I was reminded of my feelings about baseball: I enjoy watching games, but truth be told, I would much rather be out there, hitting the ball and running the bases. In contrast, my son is content to sit and listen to these people, sometimes while playing his own video game on his phone. It’s a multitasking feat.
For a certain segment, watching YouTubers is quite the laugh riot — and it’s turned some of the folks in the videos into multimillionaires. Probably the most well-known of the lot is the Swedish comedian PewDiePie. He is to video games as Oprah has been to books — if he plays your game, expect a bump in sales from kids like mine who will clamor to play them, too. It’s not entirely without educational value; my son has learned some key phrases in Swedish, including a curse word or two. (As no one around here speaks Swedish, I’m okay with that — for now.)
A lot of adults rage over how much time kids spend plugged in to video games. They talk about time that would be better spent socializing or exercising or engaging in any sort of pursuit that actually contributes to either the kids’ personal well-being or to society at large. They nag their child to take out the trash or take the dog for a walk and the child probably does not hear them until the fourth request. (Maybe.) They want to discipline. And they blame these YouTubers.
How is this any different from when we were young? Substitute your child’s obsession with whatever the activity addiction was in the 1980s. Music? Comic books? MTV? Watching terrible 1960s sitcom repeats? (Okay. The last one is probably just me.) It’s fodder, like anything else, for kids to discuss at lunch and at the bus stop. Technology has increased the choices, but watching Games YouTubers is not qualitatively that much different than watching back-to-back episodes of Gilligan’s Island. Both are junk food for the brain. There’s just more cursing involved in some of the former and several people who cannot find their way off an island in the latter.
A lot of the material is foul-mouthed and juvenile. Should your 8-year-old be watching? There are more appropriate channels out there for littles; for example, I’ve watched plenty of tame Minecraft videos. (Remember, though: Minecraft videos are the gateway drug.) The bulk of the gamer videos echo a lot of language from the junior high set. The discussions in middle school have only become more graphic and curse-laden since we were kids, not less, and not just because of these folks making it the norm. One of my children predates this YouTuber mania; that slippery slide was happening long before my son’s current favorite, Ireland’s own JackSepticEye, shrieked an obscenity from my family room computer.
There’s a part of me that is simply glad that my son is testing these obnoxious waters via one-way communication, something I can monitor when the headphones come off. As a parent, I try to find the teachable moments in all of this. When JackSepticEye dyed his hair neon green, my son and I had a terrific conversation about the pros and cons of him following suit. (For the record, I don’t care if he does, though he now has chosen not to, thanks to a newfound practical appreciation of the time and money it takes to bleach and then dye dark hair.) I’m glad we have a chance to talk about everything from violence to stupid sexual innuendos. (And, at the risk of getting drummed out of the respectable moms of America club, I admit — these guys at times are actually hilarious.)
PewDiePie, JackSepticEye and their ilk are puerile in a way that middle schoolers lap up. But look beyond that and you’ll see the good that comes from them. These YouTubers are inspiring many young people to engage with technology and start their own YouTube channels. PewDiePie and others have also raised millions during Charity Views, where for every view of a particular video, they give money to nonprofits such as Charity: Water, the World Wildlife Fund and Save the Children, among others. These moments of awareness remind kids of the bigger world outside their screens and the importance of engaging in those spaces.
Earlier this year, PewDiePie and Disney’s Maker Studios announced a partnership, Revelmode, which is, at this time, an undefined digital network that will include PewDiePie and several of his gamer pals (including my favorite, JackSepticEye) doing something … to be determined. (You have to wonder what sort of influence Disney money will have on these YouTubers’ content.) In the meantime, monitor your kids, give them other ways to engage with their peers and their interests — but back off a little. These Games YouTubers are creating a culturally binding way for kids to relate.
I’ve learned something, too. I have a new vocabulary of curse words to shout in my car when I’m driving the highway. (I’ll refrain in deference to any Swedish-language readers out there.)
