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> One in 3 British children age 6 to 17 told pollsters last year that they wanted to become a full-time YouTuber. That’s three times as many as those who wanted
by paulgb 9y ago
> One in 3 British children age 6 to 17 told pollsters last year that they wanted to become a full-time YouTuber. That’s three times as many as those who wanted to become a doctor or a nurse.
Is this supposed to be alarming? When I was that age my peers might have said NBA player or Hollywood actor but those are not any more realistic.
- gizmo385 9y agoThat's also a really big age range, maturity wise, to group together for such a question. Like 2/3rds of 6 year olds might have said that, but 1/6 17 year olds might have answered the question like that. Just doesn't really end up being a useful metric the way that the article presents it.
- mratzloff 9y agoSeriously. I wonder how many in this sprawling 6 to 17 age bracket said they wanted to be a dinosaur when they grew up.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- VLM 9y agoWith a side implication that 1 in 9 kids want to become a doctor or nurse. That's not economically survivable unless medical personnel also take a similar vow of poverty.
- xkjkls 9y agoThat assumes the 1/9 who want to be a doctor or nurse actually end up becoming one. I'd say the rates for both of those are probably pretty low.
- limeblack 9y agoMy frustration is NBA and hollywood actors bubbles are quickly shattered by recruiters. You can go so far to study film/tv in college by taking out loans(which is fine if that is your dream), but frankly the bubble isn't burst until you almost 23 for those that choose such a path.
- IntronExon 9y agoBased on the number of “actors” in a 10 block radius of LA restaurants, I question your premise that Hollywood is good at signaling when “time is up” on the dream. Take that same 10 block radius and now include the total number of screenplays, and if you got them close enough together they’d collapse into a singularity.
- Vadoff 9y agoAn NBA player or Hollywood actor takes years of training and dedication, and hours upon hours of time investment. A youtuber only needs a fraction of that, and how well or poorly you're doing (views/subscribers) is instantly verifiable.
- Barrin92 9y ago>Is this supposed to be alarming? When I was that age my peers might have said NBA player or Hollywood actor The difference is that the feedback of your success or failure on those tracks is usually quite rapid. If you've hit a certain age you know whether you're going to be a professional athlete or not. People who think they might make it on youtube are facing an audience that might as well encourage them to keep on even if they are not making a living. Add to this the idea that youtube and other platforms market themselves to people in this way. ("ditch the old gatekeepers, they're keeping you back!") People might be able to build up false realities for themselves much more easily in virtual spaces.
- ramblerman 9y agoThis seems like such a 'none' panic. Either they will make money or they won't. And if their followers are growing theoretically they are on the right track. You think no footballer or basketballer was ever caught close to being a pro, and then spent a year or 2 too long on the dream before realising he didn't cut it. It's exactly the same thing, just a different medium
- AstralStorm 9y agoIf followers count is growing it might not mean anything unless you're already big. The trajectory tells even more. Chance events happen. Sometimes a single break is enough, but more often it is not.
- skookumchuck 9y agoOr being in a rock-n-roll band.