Mar 13 2009
Social Skills Are Lacking In Social Media
Screaming Social Media
Some months ago, I made a short Camtasia video about YouTube’s Audio Swap feature.
Now, I must admit that I am not all that emotionally invested in the background audio for my videos. In fact, it’s been awhile since I thought of any music as more than background noise.
I don’t define myself by my taste in music, and music doesn’t define the people I know.
But I didn’t give any of that any thought when I made the You Tube tutorial. I just wanted to point out a new feature that some folks might find useful.
Well GOLLLLL-EEEE! as Gomer Pyle would say. What a response!
Teenage boys and young men are very attached to their music. There has been an avalanche of illiterate, obscene, sexist, ageist, anti-gay and just plain stupid comments. Most denounce YouTube and announce that it sucks… various things.
These comments aren’t directed at me or my video. They are, rather, the cry of children deprived of a beloved toy. Their music is a defining element of their identity. In some way, it made their video meaningful. And You Tube took it away.
(Of course, the recording artists and record labels demanded that You Tube remove copyrighted music, but that’s too fine a distinction for these lads.)
Every so often, I wander over to YouTube and look at the latest sewage that has washed up in the Comments section. And I wonder, “Is this what the Social Web has come to? Will everything be dragged to to the Beavis and Butthead level?”
Foul mouthed kids on the web, screaming morons on cable TV, talk radio… it’s enough to make you want to read a book.
Photo by Andrew Mason Released under Creative Commons License
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