Why I Hate - YouTube

While tucking into my breakfast flakes and mixed nuts this morning, I was reminded of how much I really detest the entire premise of the popular YouTube phenomenon. My breakfast was spoiled by Dave Berry, or rather his infernally irritating southern accent (spot the accent snob), introducing clips from YouTube onto mainstream television. Great, now I can't even ignore YouTube as I've done in the past.

Each time I see a documentary that features YouTube, such as last night's The Money Programme, I'm assured that the television companies are "running scared" of the impact that YouTube and "user generated content" is having on mainstream television viewing. I find this more than a little hard to believe. In fact, I'm reminded a little of the Y2K issue and how the media used sensationalist terms to describe the impact it was to have. As it turned out, system administrators such as myself really didn't need to don our tin hats after all. The world continued to revolve regardless. But I digress a little.

I, for one, completely fail to see the similarity between television and YouTube. More to the point, I predict a very long wait until they become comparable. The only similarity I see at present is that both require the eyes to view them. This makes them about as similar as classical oil painting and interior decorating. But really, it's not that which fuels my dislike of YouTube.

As someone who sells his creativity and thus suffers piracy of his creativity too, I have another major beef with YouTube - the rampant piracy. There is more than a little irony that a system which is so often touted as better than television is so often used to provide illegal copies of popular television shows to the masses. Take down notices have recently been issued by Viacom for some 100,00 files. My hope is that now Google own YouTube, a little more responsibility will be shown towards keeping this untamed YouTube beast on a short leash. After all, you don't need to be an economist to appreciate that YouTube is now more likely to be sued, given that it now has Google massive funding behind it. However, it's not even the piracy aspect that most irritates me about YouTube. So what is the most irritating aspect?

What really irritates me the most about YouTube is the actual content. It's crap. It's banal, and it's largely completely juvenile. It caters for the individual who has an attention span that struggles to stretch past the three minute limit imposed by modern society. It largely comprises of individuals wanting to be famous for being ordinary and doing ordinary things. It's just not interesting, in the least. The comedy is comedy only through the sheer lack of quality of both video and sound. Again, there is absolutely no similarity to the refined quality of TV that has taken years to perfect. Actually, it's like watching very very early television, with a constant hissing in the background, grainy film, and a bizarre echo that comes about from using your bedroom as your "studio". The only type of film made in a bedroom should, according to my partner, last longer than three minutes, and probably doesn't belong on a user generated content website!

Well I have youtube videos of my dogs and my daughter on her pony because I want to show them off cos I am proud of them.. personally I don't see the harm..

No one needs go to the website, just avoid it..same goes for TV just change the channel..don' let it get to you

I think that is about the limit of what YouTube should be used for Louise -- innocent and convenient storage. Sadly, it's now seen by too many as an avenue for notoriety and recognition, fuelling ever more crap content, from people who think they are as good as television presenters. I guess that is where my real dislike of it manifests.

Writing as someone who has never viewed a 'You Tube' download (I did try once but was presented with a load of gobbledy gook about software that I clearly hadn't got on my machine so I gave up!!) I can only say that I agree 100% - Apart from family & friends (As per Louise13) what is the point?.

Probably no one remembers the 'home cine cameras' of x decades ago but they were a way of recording family & friends enjoying themselves. After the tedious business of processing they could be shown at home, often a little too frequently

I think it sounds like 'You Tube' is much the same, why would I want to watch some ordinary person (That I don't know) doing ordinary things in a format which is amateurish, badly edited (If at all), and poor quality sound / lighting. Well I wouldn't would I?