Following the Trends

While it is not a brand in the traditional sense of the word, most of us interact with the video-sharing website YouTube on a regular basis, and thus it may be thought of as a brand. Almost any type of video can be found on the website, ranging from commercials and movie trailers, to original videos uploaded by users. One can find videos made to educate, videos made for entertainment, and even videos which seem to have no purpose. With seventy-two hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute (http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics), this website clearly has a large impact on the culture of today’s world. Specifically, I would like to look at the list of recommended videos that YouTube provides, and what this says about our culture.

            Every YouTube user is provided with a list of recommended videos, based off what videos they have previously watched, and those which have been viewed a significant amount of times. By showing these recommendations to users, YouTube is able to use the power of peer pressure in order to entice users into watching more vides and spending more time on the site. When a user sees that thousands or even millions of other people have viewed a video, this tells the user that, if everyone else is watching it, it must be a good video. Not only does this website use the power of peer pressure to entice users to frequent the site more often, but at the same time, it also uses fear to its advantage. The user becomes afraid that, if he does not watch a popular video, he might miss out on an experience that everyone else is enjoying, or that he will not understand references others make to the video. What this says about our culture is that we try to conform to whatever the majority of people are doing. We want to fit in, and we long for a sense of belonging. We want to be able to identify with a group of people, and if our sense of belonging is disrupted, we become uncomfortable.

            Our culture has become so concerned with ensuring that we do not miss anything that everyone else is experiencing, that we are willing to waste hours of our lives watching videos. The YouTube website states that every month, over four billion hours of videos are watched. (http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics) This is approximately equivalent to over fifteen thousand years worth of videos watched every day. Granted, when this time is divided among the millions of visitors YouTube has, the viewing time of each individual is not nearly as large, but these statistics are still staggering. This shows the great effort that we humans are willing to make in order to belong to a group.

            The Bible has many passages which speak on the issue of belonging and conforming to the cultural trends. It is in Christ that we find our identity and our place of belonging, not in this world, or its culture. Christians don’t need to bother with fitting in, and are in fact encouraged, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2, NIV).” When we no longer attempt to identify ourselves according to the world’s standards, it is then that we find our sense of belonging. Jesus broke down the cultural and social barriers of His day, and we as Christians are called to do the same. According to Jesus’ standards, there are no cultural divisions. Instead we find our unity in following Christ. As Paul states, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28, NIV).” Instead of looking to the constantly changing trending videos for our identity, we must remember to identify ourselves with the One who “is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).”