A Response to Dodie Clark - Youtube and the Media

Recently there's been a lot of (for lack of a better word) 'drama' about Youtubers and how the mainstream media portray them. Apparently Zoella is to blame for teenagers not reading....despite the fact the woman has three best-selling books and runs a book club through WHSmiths. But obviously because she talks about make-up, she's a monster.

The lovely Dodie Clark (Doddleoddle online) did this video about how the media talk about and portray Youtubers and she asked for responses. So here is mine. Because oh my god it bothers me how some of them get talked about. 

I've been watching YouTubers since I was about 14/15 (I'm 20 now) and they are some of the people I look up to the most. Is it not better that I look up to people who I've watched grow as both internet personalities and people over the years, who've worked bloody hard for what they've got and what they do, continue to make even better and bigger projects? I've watched some YouTubers before they made it 'big' I guess and it's so wonderful to see people achieving great and inspiring things, particularly when they also genuinely seem like good, kind-hearted people.  For example, Dan and Phil did a worldwide stage tour, Carrie Hope Fletcher played the role of Eponine on the West End and in Dubai (and no she didn't get the role because she's famous on the internet, she got it because she's fantastic), Dodie release an EP, Bry go on tour with Twenty One Pilots, Jack and Dean have their own show....I could name many more wonderful things Youtubers have done. It's inspiring to see people I do hold some form of affection for go on to do brilliant, wonderful things.
On a personal level, I struggled with being homesick, being anxious and some other health problems my first year of uni, if I hadn't have watched certain YouTubers (namely D&P thanks boys lol) I would have been a lot more sad and it helped me get through rough patches as it was 10-15 minutes of my day where I was distracted from my own head. If a YouTuber has made one person feel better about a crappy day what harm can they really be posing to the world? Ask yourself that mainstream media. 

In response to the Guardian article that's caused this discussion, how on earth they can think Zoella is 'ruining literacy', I've got zero clue. My little sister has read Zoe's books and she's not a massive reader - if Zoe's online presence has meant young people have picked up a book instead of their phone or laptop, again what harm is being done? None. 

Some mainstream media seems so obsessed with how much money YouTubers earn. Why on earth does it matter? These people work hard for a living, they are literally all running their own businesses - their channel-  and alongside that, some are working on music, writing books etc. Anytime I've read a newspaper article about YouTubers, it almost always mentions how much they're worth. Louise Pentland, when on Celebrity Mastermind, was asked how much she earns, to which her response was "well how much do you earn?" - no other person in the spotlight would get asked that... but for some reason, being famous online makes it more okay for the media to be invasive. I won't go into the whole PewDiePie drama from the not so distant past as that's a different issue but he did mention the fact that journalists have turned up at his door and I seem to remember a newspaper once printed Zoe and Alfie's address...not only is it awful but it borders on a crime surely.
It really does seem that because some in the mainstream media don't quite understand how these 'kids' online make their money (and be very successful at the same time), they decide to just shame them instead. There does also seem to be a lot of dismissal/misinformation that the main YouTube audience are just 'young teenage girls'. While those who are younger are perhaps more vocal in the YouTube community, I also think that a lot of the audience has grown up with the YouTubers they watch - like I said before I've been watching since I was 14. Therefore this would make the demographic of audiences somewhat older than the media makes out. Some articles I've read dismisses the 'fame' of YouTubers because their audience are young and female - bit sexist innit?

The wonderful Carrie Hope Fletcher made some excellent responses in this video in that YouTube needs the mainstream media so it isn't enough to boycott it but also that the media uses clickbaity titles (as some YouTubers do) in order to get attention/views/clicks on their article. Everyone is doing the same thing so it isn't necessarily a case of new vs old media. It does perhaps need some time for things to merge together but I feel that if some mainstream media got over 'I don't understand this' and researched YouTubers and worked with them rather than against them, the entirety of digital media would become a lot more friendly. Outlets like the Huffington Post and Buzzfeed seem to be doing this crossover quite well in my opinion.

Well this is a somewhat rambling post I do apologise. I hope it makes sense - thinking about it I might write some more pieces on YouTube as it is a part of my life that I'm passionate about. Thanks for reading and see you soon :)
Laura x

The Girl from the Savoy - book review!

Because I am a university student who does a Humanities degree it means I spend the majority of my time reading which ultimately means my reading for pleasure suffers as I tend to use my breaks to catch up on TV or YouTube. However, after starting this book last August (and then stupidly leaving it at my friend's house who lives an hour away from me....plus I got distracted by the Cursed Child script whoops) I finally finished The Girl from the Savoy last week so thought I'd do a little review!

I read one of  Hazel Gaynor's other books, A Memory of Violets, last year and I absolutely adored it so I was very excited to read The Girl from the Savoy. I'm a history student/geek who is a romantic at heart so Hazel's fiction is very much up my street. I will highly recommend A Memory of Violets (and I may even say at a push I enjoyed it slightly more than this one ahem)

The Girl from the Savoy is set in 1920's London, funnily enough at the Savoy Hotel. Hotels are a setting I often find fascinating because you come across literally anyone and everyone, no matter the point in history. It follows the story of Dolly Lane, a young aspiring actress who becomes a maid at the Savoy, as well as Loretta May, a famous West End star. They both hold secrets in their past, they have both loved and lost and their stories intertwine together to form a wholesome, interesting story.

What I particularly found interesting about this book was the slight twist (probably the best way to word it) in terms of the romantic story lines. No spoilers but it did seem as if the story was heading one way only to demonstrate that love is a fickle, delicate thing and just because a person seems right for you, and perhaps in another world or time they would be the right person, it doesn't mean it all works out happily. The book also covers various topics such as sexual abuse, illness, losing a loved one and the issues of the soldiers who returned from war. It contains two central female characters who come from different walks of life but wholeheartedly support one another which warms my little feminist heart right to the centre. In terms of the setting, the whole world of 1920's London is a magical place it seems (obviously this was not necessarily the case but Hazel does a lovely job of describing and making you get entirely engrossed in this glamorous past)

My slight issue with the book was that it dragged a little in the middle and a plot device at the end did seemingly come a little from nowhere. But that may have been because I also read this book normally quite late at night so I may have just not picked up on the hints about it. However, the characters are interesting and even though occasionally flawed (but who isn't?), they are people you find yourself rooting for and it keeps the reader invested.

On the whole, I rate this book a solid 8/10 and would definitely recommend.

Bye for now!!
Laura x

general ramblings about mental health at university

Having been a semi-successful university student for a year and a half now, I have some thoughts. Not only about what university has meant for me/done for me, but about growing up in general I guess. I'm halfway through my second year now and I should be revising instead of writing this but I said  I was gonna write something every week and damn it I am going to.

Number one - you're on your own kid.
I mean I know it's kinda obvious when you go to university, you're suddenly away from your home, your family, your friends and familiar surroundings. But it didn't really hit me until I shut the door to my tiny little room last year after saying bye to my parents. I turned round, looked at the bare walls and my belongings (that didn't look right out of my bedroom at home)...and burst into tears. Anyone who knows me knows I am such a home-bird and being away suddenly felt like I'd made a huge mistake. I wasn't ready to live independently!

As it turns out, I was ready to live independently and it's all just nerves taking over. I had lovely flatmates (well bar one but we won't talk about him) and everyone is in the same boat. Talk to people, ask for help and breathe deeply if it's getting too much.

Number two - mental health and self-care
I've always been an anxious person  - I worry too much, I stress about very trivial things and I'm very paranoid when it comes to friendships, I don't really know why. But it was during the first term at university, things started to get quite bad. I became afraid to leave my little room in my flat essentially due to the fear something would go wrong in public. I had been diagnosed with stress-related IBS ...so when I had a bad flare-up in a lecture (essentially it was a horrendous stomach cramp that left me feeling like I was gonna throw up everywhere) my brain started to associate my stomach issues to lectures. Therefore lectures became a scary place to be. Which then latched itself onto any public place ... the shops, seminars, where I volunteered. It was scary and unfamiliar to me. I shut myself away a lot of the time which didn't help. Eventually I went to the doctor who referred me to a counsellor. I was told I had agoraphobia - the fear of public spaces - as well as some general anxiety that reinforced it. It sounds dumb I know but it was nice to put a name to the thing that had been bothering me for a long time. After two months of working on this, I began to feel better. I could tell the voice in my head to shut up, that I was fine, nothing bad was going to happen. I began to enjoy my studies again.

Mental health is so bloody important, never ever neglect it. If you need to spend a day eating junk food and watching crappy tv, you do it. Forget your deadlines (not completely tho) and take care of yourself. Have a bath, read a book, even just going for a walk may help clear your hand and calm you down. I'd never really had to look after myself in such a way before but now I know it's super-important that you take breaks. If I'm getting overwhelmed, it's time to go to talk to my housemate or watch a YouTube video or listen to a song. LOOK AFTER YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU'RE A DELIGHT OKAY <3

Number three-  nightlife
Due to the whole 'I-don't-like-public-spaces' thing, I really hate nightclubs. Give me a cider and a pub quiz any day of the week instead of having to pay stupid entry fees to be squished up against drunk strangers. I don't really drink as it is, I know my limits and I very rarely go beyond them. University if you don't drink (or don't drink that much) is kinda weird as it's a thing everyone does.  I don't like going out, it's just not my thing. But that's okay, you'll find like-minded people. Even if you don't and a lot of your friends do like going out (which mine do) you'll find they won't really judge you for it. I may have been lucky in this sense however so don't take my word for it. It's all a case of you do you I think. I won't judge you for going out as long as you don't judge me for not. This works probs 99% of the time. Yes this does tie into mental health.... because you gotta do stuff you enjoy, you can't just force yourself into situations cause you think it's what others do. That's only gonna lead to you feeling worse. I can promise that.

There is probably more I could go into but I think I'll save some stuff for another blogpost...
see ya next week.
Laura x