Why I Hate Making (and Watching) Online Videos

A story of walking away from YouTube glory

Last week, I talked about why I got off Twitter.

This week, I want to share why I dislike both watching and making videos.

As I mentioned previously, it’s not that I’m a Luddite. There are lots of forms of technology that I use and love. So I haven’t chosen these topics for my first two outings on Dying Breed just because I’m a crank (though I’m not not a crank, either).

Rather, it’s because, having made my living online for almost two decades, I have an especial interest in communication technology, have had a front-row seat to its evolutions and oscillations, and have formed some decided opinions about it as a result.

High-level media theory is something I’m very interested in, and down the line, I’d like to get into some of the more philosophical implications of society moving from being a text-based culture to an oral/image/video-based culture.

Today, though, I want to offer a more personal Andy Rooney-esque perspective on why I stopped making YouTube videos, don’t like watching a certain kind of online video, and don’t plan to ever offer the AoM podcast in video format.