I Believe YouTubers Are the Future

Like with any age demographic, it’s hard to characterize teens with one blanket description. Some are smart and some are dumb. Some are polite and some gather in groups and heckle you (okay, me) on the subway. There are those, like the Parkland teenagers, who are informed and brave activists and then there are others who…are Jake and Logan Paul.

This week on DirtCast, Megan and I—guided by our youth sherpa, Hazel Cills—wade into the murky waters of teen YouTube and Instagram influencers and their questionable-yet-growing celebrity.

From the Paul brothers’ exploitive globe-trotting to YouTube make-up artist Jeffree Star’s casual racism to the feud between Bhad Bhabie, Whoa Vicky, and Lil Tay that’s currently gripping the nation—the “nation” is what I call my brain—we find ourselves discussing what exactly is going on with the kids today and if it’s actually any worse than the stuff that previous generations were into. (Spoiler: yes, because content is constantly available, and no, because we all have shitty tastes at some point, probably even now.)

DirtCast can be found on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, NPR Oneand iHeart Media.

Thanks to Hazel Cills. Our show is produced by Levi Sharpe. Mandana Mofidi is our Executive Director of Audio. Our theme music is by Stuart Wood. This episode was mixed by Corey Schreppel.