I did YouTube for about 3 years (2019-2022). I really enjoyed the experience and sometimes miss it. I learned a lot about different products and brands. I walked away learning which brands I loved the most and worked for me as a mature women. I put a lot of work into my channel planning content, filming, and editing. It was a really good experience.

My tops reason for resigning was I needed to take care of myself. I have a life outside of YouTube. I needed to remove unnecessary stressors so I could function better in my real life. But I walked away learning some lessons. When I first started watching other YouTubers in the more luxury department I thought to myself: “Wow, they are spending a lot of money!” I would mentally add up the products they purchased on their shopping hauls and it was thousands of dollars. I saw them talking about having “backup” products which I have never heard of before nor had I ever done myself. I would buy one product and use it up and then I would go to the store and repurchase it again. So during the time I did Youtube my mentality had changed to get a back up product. This is not bad in itself, but now I have to break out of that mentality.

I never got monetized for my channel so I never earned anything for all my hard work. I never had affliate links or sponsorships. I was never really comfortable with all that. I still watch other content creators and I respect what they are doing and all the hard work that goes into what they do. I appreciate the hard work. What I have realized is the parasocial relationship you have with influencers gives you a familiarity and false comfort. You have a one-sided relationship with them and you “trust” them. But they are really NOT your friends. If you tried to call them or show up at their door that would be weird and on the verge of stalking. Yet part of the brilliance of the marketing behind YT influencers is this fake relationship the viewer thinks they have with you. I think this works especially well with women because we are all about relationships, connecting, talking and sharing. But it can be a dark sword.

Because you have this familiarity with the YouTuber and you think you know them, you trust them. Trust equals listening, valuing, and considering what they have to say. Basically, you trust their opinions and when they tell you a product is good you believe them. So you buy what they are “selling”.

I never set out to “sell” anything. In fact, I strongly dislike marketing and sales because I believe it is manipulative, preying on our weaknesses and insecurities. I don’t like that. That is not what i want to do. I am not comfortable doing that to other people. I don’t want to people to feel like they are not enough just as they are. I don’t want people to go into debt and spend money they don’t have thinking that this thing they are buying will make their life so much more “wonderful”. That is not the person I want to be.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to dress nicely and look our best (using skincare and makeup). But debt more than you can pay and an endless striving for perfection is a dead end street. There is more to life than our appearance or possessions. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

*The Danger of Parasocial Relationships:

Parasocial relationships are one-sided attachments where individuals develop a sense of connection, intimacy, or familiarity with someone they don’t know, often celebrities or media figures. These relationships exist solely in the individual’s mind and can be beneficial or detrimental depending on the context. AI Overview-