Latest / Mini Scroll / Anti-Intellectualism & The Downfall of Commentary Creators

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Anti-Intellectualism & The Downfall of Commentary Creators · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  On June 12th, 2019 Beauty YouTube Jacqueline Hill
• 0:03
  published a video titled My Lipsticks.
• 0:06
  Sitting in her bedroom, Jacqueline was fresh faced with
• 0:09
  her hair down and wearing the signature grey hoodie that all
• 0:12
  2010's Youtubers wore when they made an apology video.
• 0:16
  Jacqueline was here to address the claims that her new brand,
• 0:19
  Jacqueline Cosmetics, had launched with a range of
• 0:21
  lipsticks that were contaminated with mold shards of plastic,
• 0:26
  and, as per the official name, White Fuzzies, I have never
• 0:31
  clicked on a video so fast. Over the following weeks, I
• 0:35
  consumed hours of commentary content about Jaclyn Hill's
• 0:39
  hairy lipsticks. I read all the thing pieces, I
• 0:42
  listened to all the podcasts, and I watched all the Drama
• 0:46
  Channel videos about this saga. But as a longtime follower of
• 0:49
  the YouTube beauty community, there was something about the
• 0:52
  coverage of Jaclyn Hill's hairy lipsticks that I just couldn't
• 0:55
  get past. Much of it lacked a deep
• 0:57
  understanding of the Jaclyn Hill lore.
• 1:00
  There was misinformation being spread about her life, career
• 1:03
  and history all over the Internet and missing context
• 1:07
  that I felt was required to have an informed opinion on the
• 1:10
  situation. So I couldn't help but wonder,
• 1:13
  should I be the one commenting on Jaclyn Hill's hairy
• 1:17
  lipsticks? A writer by profession, I got to
• 1:20
  work and I launched a website calledcentennialbeauty.com that
• 1:24
  would report on the news, trends and creators of the YouTube
• 1:27
  beauty community. At the time, TikTok was new and
• 1:31
  I decided to experiment with putting our articles on the
• 1:34
  platform. On January 12th, 2020, I
• 1:37
  uploaded a video revealing that Jeffrey Star had split from his
• 1:40
  longtime boyfriend Nathan Schwanz.
• 1:42
  Within hours, it had over 300,000 views.
• 1:46
  Two days later, I uploaded a video explaining that Nikki
• 1:49
  Tutorials had come out as transgender over 540,000 views.
• 1:55
  Three days after that, Kat Von D was leaving her makeup brand
• 1:59
  343,000 views. The proof was in the numbers.
• 2:03
  There was a very solid place for pop culture analysis and news on
• 2:07
  TikTok. But as the years have gone on
• 2:09
  and Centennial Beauty evolved past, covering just the YouTube
• 2:12
  beauty community, now it feels like audiences are evolving too.
• 2:17
  What was once one of the most powerful niches on TikTok is now
• 2:20
  over. Saturated with creators and
• 2:23
  overrun by fake news and unverified claims, audiences
• 2:27
  feel tired of thinking and even more tired of having to question
• 2:31
  who they're getting this information from.
• 2:34
  Almost five years after I first consumed every piece of
• 2:37
  commentary content that I could about Jaclyn Hill's hairy
• 2:40
  lipsticks, I can't help but wonder, is this the beginning of
• 2:44
  the end? For commentary content from
• 2:47
  Centennial World, I'm Lauren Meisner and This is Infinite
• 2:50
  Scroll, a podcast about Internet culture, the creator economy,
• 2:54
  and how social media is shaping Gen.
• 2:56
  Zed. OK, welcome back to Infinite
• 3:00
  Scroll, everyone. I had so much fun writing that
• 3:03
  intro. I really felt like we needed a
• 3:05
  really light hearted, fun vibe this week after last week's
• 3:10
  episode. I so appreciate all of your
• 3:12
  support for last week's episode. I know it was a hard one to
• 3:15
  listen to. It was a hard one to research.
• 3:17
  So I am glad that I am back with something a little bit more
• 3:20
  light for you guys and you all have been so sweet about the
• 3:24
  announcement of Mini Scroll. So yes, if you guys didn't hear
• 3:27
  last week on April 2nd, I am launching a daily podcast Monday
• 3:31
  to Thursday. It'll be like 10 to 15 minutes
• 3:33
  long and it will be the news from the day before.
• 3:37
  And it will be more personality based, more fun, less serious,
• 3:40
  less scripted, more chatty, you know, so you guys can get all of
• 3:44
  that from me. And then Fridays, of course,
• 3:45
  will be Infinite Scroll, so you'll get the best of both
• 3:47
  worlds. So as always, Please remember to
• 3:50
  rate, review and subscribe. It means so much and it helps my
• 3:53
  channel grow. It helps my podcast grow.
• 3:55
  It is so meaningful. Please sign up to our
• 3:58
  newsletter, also called Infinite Scroll.
• 4:00
  On Wednesdays we send out a commentary article about a
• 4:03
  trend, creator, drama or news. And on Friday we round up the
• 4:06
  five biggest thing pieces on the Internet that week and join our
• 4:10
  Geneva group, which is also called Infinite Scroll, where
• 4:13
  you can chat with other people who are obsessed with Internet
• 4:15
  culture, creator, drama and tea. And you can talk with me.
• 4:18
  I am recording this episode quite early, so if you guys left
• 4:20
  me a review this week and I don't read it, I will read it
• 4:24
  next week because I probably just haven't gotten it yet, but
• 4:27
  I will read some comments from YouTube on last week's episode.
• 4:30
  Fizz Bish said amazing episode, really informative and you
• 4:34
  really highlighted the need for additional protection for having
• 4:37
  kiddos. Impeccable timing with Quiet on
• 4:39
  Set having just been released, which I totally hope you cover.
• 4:42
  Looking forward to mini scroll. Much love the girlies are
• 4:44
  killing it. Thank you, love it.
• 4:48
  And then yeah, everybody else is just like daily podcast exciting
• 4:52
  big boy, Becky says. Wow, mini scroll sounds very
• 4:55
  ideal for someone who loves Daily News but has a short
• 4:57
  attention span. Best of luck.
• 4:58
  I'm very excited for it. So sweet.
• 5:01
  Yeah, Quiet on Set came out. That is the docu series,
• 5:05
  documentary docu series about Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon
• 5:09
  and basically what happened to child stars.
• 5:12
  The problem is that it's not released in Australia yet, so I
• 5:15
  haven't been able to watch it. So once I do, there is
• 5:18
  definitely a possibility that I will cover it.
• 5:20
  But yeah, Wild timing honestly didn't line that up, but the
• 5:23
  conversation is just exploding right now about it in general.
• 5:26
  But yes, once we get it in Australia, I will watch it and I
• 5:30
  possibly will cover it. For those unfamiliar with
• 5:33
  commentary videos, this type of content deep dives into a
• 5:37
  specific topic. Kind of like this podcast, this
• 5:40
  content provides analysis, critique, or opinion on a
• 5:43
  particular situation or issue. A creator might use other
• 5:47
  content as a jumping off point, or they might simply cover a
• 5:49
  topic that they are interested in.
• 5:51
  Commentary creators operate across different social media
• 5:54
  platforms, but they are most popular on TikTok, and YouTube.
• 5:58
  On YouTube, commentary content is typically presented in a
• 6:01
  video essay style. You will see a creator sitting
• 6:04
  in front of the camera rattling off information about the topic.
• 6:08
  They are usually well researched and well edited, with graphics
• 6:10
  and text popping up on screen as they speak.
• 6:13
  On TikTok, where videos are significantly shorter, creators
• 6:17
  will emulate the structure of a video essay, often using the
• 6:20
  green screen effect while explaining different topics.
• 6:23
  Terry Nguyen explains TikTok commentary for Vox Writing Quote
• 6:27
  They are a fraction of the length of YouTube video essays,
• 6:30
  but constructed with a similar critical and intellectual bent.
• 6:34
  These ideas are not always groundbreaking or original, but
• 6:37
  the quippy and digestible presentation style is uniquely
• 6:40
  suitable for an audience with a limited attention span.
• 6:43
  These commentary videos are a far cry from the type of videos
• 6:46
  that TikTok became known for, like dance and lip sync.
• 6:49
  Content Quote analysis creators are a marked departure from the
• 6:54
  earliest days of the app, when content was short, simple, and
• 6:57
  straightforward, Nguyen continues.
• 6:59
  Although this type of content isn't native to TikTok,
• 7:03
  commentary isn't a new genre for social media, and there are a
• 7:06
  couple of categories that have paved the way for this type of
• 7:10
  content to flourish. First and foremost, there have
• 7:13
  long been people who analyze different types of content that
• 7:16
  we consume. Before we talked about Internet
• 7:18
  culture, it was mainstream pop culture, specifically TV and
• 7:22
  movies. Pop culture analysis through
• 7:25
  video format really started with TV and film reviews on different
• 7:29
  websites and on YouTube. The YouTube channel Watch Mojo
• 7:32
  is one of the earliest examples of this.
• 7:34
  In 2007, they uploaded a video reviewing the Rent musical DVD.
• 7:40
  16 years later, they have over 25,000,000 subscribers and
• 7:45
  exclusively post pop culture analysis in videolistical
• 7:48
  format. But as the years have gone on
• 7:51
  and mainstream culture blends with Internet culture, the move
• 7:54
  towards Internet culture as the main topic of commentary
• 7:57
  analysis videos seems like a natural fit.
• 8:01
  Second, the rise of true crime content has made way for more
• 8:05
  analytical content online. Over the past few years, the
• 8:09
  true crime niche has gone completely viral.
• 8:12
  From podcasts to YouTube videos, creators are embracing their
• 8:16
  inner armchair detective and breaking down some of the
• 8:18
  world's most complicated cases. Often, these creators will also
• 8:23
  share their own opinion on what happened, veering into
• 8:26
  conspiracy territory. While the true crime genre
• 8:30
  definitely has its problems, for example, fictionalizing these
• 8:34
  cases can compromise ongoing investigations and hurt the
• 8:37
  victims families. This type of content has LED
• 8:40
  viewers to expect analysis when exploring topics, and when you
• 8:44
  look at them side by side. True crime and commentary
• 8:47
  analysis have very similar formats.
• 8:50
  In both genres, creators typically speak directly to the
• 8:53
  audience, draw conclusions, and analyze the situation, often
• 8:58
  from multiple perspectives. They both also have a narrative
• 9:01
  elements. True crime content tends to
• 9:03
  communicate every detail and event to the viewer
• 9:06
  chronologically and predictably, building a sense of familiarity
• 9:09
  and consistency. Commentary creators do a similar
• 9:12
  thing, opening up with a specific concept or theme before
• 9:16
  dissecting the whole topic in detail.
• 9:18
  Third drama channels have also helped commentary creators and
• 9:22
  content go increasingly mainstream.
• 9:25
  We have discussed the origins of drama channels at length on this
• 9:29
  podcast. For an in depth analysis of how
• 9:31
  drama channels operate and their role in the creator sphere,
• 9:34
  check out our episode with Spill Sash from last season.
• 9:38
  But for those unfamiliar with drama channels, they are
• 9:40
  dedicated to covering drama and news in various communities
• 9:43
  online. When they first arrived on the
• 9:45
  scene, they had a specific focus on the beauty community.
• 9:49
  The rise of drama channels helped shift the focus away from
• 9:52
  mainstream topics to increasingly niche conversations
• 9:55
  with a specific focus on Internet culture.
• 9:58
  As viewers became increasingly invested in their favorite
• 10:01
  creators and the ongoing drama, many started seeking context and
• 10:05
  analysis on the situations rather than just a recount.
• 10:09
  This helped pave the way for longer form analytical content
• 10:12
  in the form of a video essay from a personal perspective.
• 10:16
  Background 2017 to 2019, I was obsessed with drama channels.
• 10:22
  I would choose to watch drama channels quite literally over
• 10:25
  anything else, including TV, because I just loved the topics
• 10:30
  that they covered. It was like a fresh perspective
• 10:33
  on what I was interested in, but nobody else was covering them.
• 10:36
  At the time I was completely new to analytical content and I
• 10:40
  became so into it that as I mentioned in the intro, I quite
• 10:43
  literally launched Centennial because of my interest and
• 10:47
  obsession with drama channels. Now we know that analysis
• 10:50
  content has been popular on YouTube for years, but recently
• 10:54
  it feels like the genre has absolutely taken over TikTok.
• 10:57
  Commentary creators on TikTok have become increasingly popular
• 11:01
  thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is partly the result of
• 11:04
  lockdown. We had more time than ever to
• 11:06
  consume long form videos, but also with everything slowing
• 11:10
  down, many of us had more quote UN quote brainpower to consume
• 11:14
  analytical content. Video essayist and commentary
• 11:17
  creators started to fill this gap.
• 11:20
  As Trish Rooney writes for Inside Hook quote.
• 11:22
  When the pandemic began in March 2020, the demand for content to
• 11:26
  consume skyrocketed. Streaming services saw an uptick
• 11:30
  in usage. Subscriptions on streaming
• 11:32
  platforms passed a billion in 2020.
• 11:35
  It makes sense that the same would be asked of content
• 11:37
  creators during this period. We also saw the lines blur
• 11:40
  between entertainment and information like never before.
• 11:44
  Young people were turning to TikTok for updates on COVID-19.
• 11:48
  Though TikTok is an entertainment platform, it
• 11:50
  became the go to place for Crowdsource information on how
• 11:54
  to stay safe. The crossover between
• 11:56
  entertainment and information intensified during the Black
• 11:59
  Lives Matter protests in the United States, where TikTok
• 12:02
  became a hub for this sort of activism.
• 12:05
  Back in 2020, the For You page was flooded with all kinds of
• 12:08
  different posts, some focusing on how to be good allies and
• 12:12
  others sharing information on how to get involved in the
• 12:14
  ongoing protests. As Zoe Williams writes for the
• 12:18
  Guardian quote, for the first two days of the BLM riots, the
• 12:22
  Twelves and Unders had much more precise understanding of the
• 12:25
  whole thing. Not just the details of George
• 12:27
  Floyd's death, but the searing rage around it and the likely
• 12:30
  scale of the protests. Many mainstream publications
• 12:34
  were covering this shift. Some headlines from this time
• 12:37
  included Quote TikTok pivots from Dance moves to racial
• 12:41
  justice movement from NPR quote the TikTok generation of my kids
• 12:45
  is not only better informed but more politicized from the
• 12:48
  Guardian and quote TikTok serves as a hub for hashtag Black Lives
• 12:53
  Matter activism from CNN. As political content became more
• 12:57
  popular on TikTok, expectations from audiences shifted.
• 13:01
  Users began seeking in depth analysis and contextual
• 13:04
  understanding for conversations on the platform, broadening the
• 13:08
  scope of entertainment and pop culture discourse.
• 13:11
  As Nguyen continues quote, social norms have also shifted.
• 13:15
  Compulsive self entitled posting sprees are now more widely
• 13:19
  frowned upon. Even as a coping mechanism to
• 13:22
  global disaster and tragedy. Audiences seem to expect a value
• 13:26
  add to what they consume, content that doesn't singularly
• 13:29
  revolve around the creator, but engages with and elucidates the
• 13:33
  world writ large. And though it was first known as
• 13:35
  a music and dance app, TikTok as a platform has many built in
• 13:39
  features that really complement the commentary genre, like
• 13:43
  Stitch Duet and replying to comments via video.
• 13:47
  So TikTok really democratized this genre.
• 13:50
  Before, with YouTube for example, there were many more
• 13:53
  barriers to entry. The level of research and
• 13:56
  analysis has to be much more significant to fill a YouTube
• 14:00
  video than to fill a 62nd TikTok, for example.
• 14:04
  And the quality of content on YouTube from a production
• 14:07
  standpoint is less user friendly.
• 14:10
  With TikTok, someone can pick up their phone, film a 30 second
• 14:14
  opinion on something, and that is considered commentary or
• 14:17
  analysis. Now, just because someone
• 14:20
  creates commentary content doesn't mean it's good
• 14:23
  commentary content. In my opinion, what makes good
• 14:26
  commentary content is that it delivers accurate information
• 14:30
  with an original opinion or perspective.
• 14:34
  There also needs to be an element of entertainment to the
• 14:37
  content. However, this entertainment
• 14:39
  factor seems to be where many creators end up veering into
• 14:43
  dangerous territory trying to make their content too
• 14:47
  sensational in an attempt to go viral, and this can sometimes
• 14:51
  lead to the spread of misinformation and conspiracy
• 14:54
  theories. So what is it about Internet
• 14:56
  culture commentary that makes it so interesting to us?
• 15:00
  Well, perhaps the most obvious reason is that Internet
• 15:03
  commentary is very meta. Creators make content analyzing
• 15:07
  the environment in which they operate, while the viewers watch
• 15:11
  from that same space. As a result, most users will
• 15:14
  have enough context to engage with their videos, at least on a
• 15:18
  surface level. And the content that these
• 15:20
  creators make legitimizes interests and conversations that
• 15:24
  are usually considered frivolous or guilty pleasures.
• 15:27
  Pop culture, which is often relegated to the world of girl
• 15:31
  Internet, is frequently belittled.
• 15:34
  Discussions about cultural topics, both mainstream and
• 15:37
  Internet culture, are often trivialized and seen as catering
• 15:41
  exclusively to teenage girls. As Catherine McLaughlin points
• 15:44
  out in Study Breaks magazine Quote, Once teenage girls find
• 15:48
  something they love, you can predict that it will be just as
• 15:51
  quickly dismissed in the eyes of most everyone else.
• 15:54
  This is extremely ironic because stereotypically women focused
• 15:58
  interests are very lucrative and they are exploited by many
• 16:02
  industries. Many companies capitalize on the
• 16:05
  celebrity and Stan culture to make money, operating under the
• 16:08
  assumption that by catering to teenage girls, they can, quote
• 16:12
  hook them as they grow into independent adults with even
• 16:15
  greater spending power. As Samantha Grindle writes for
• 16:18
  Insider, Overall, it isn't surprising that Gen.
• 16:21
  Z users enjoy Internet commentary creators.
• 16:24
  They intellectualize and validate cultural conversations
• 16:27
  that are often overlooked. As Nguyen writes, quote These
• 16:30
  topics have long been disregarded as frivolous and
• 16:33
  feminized, and assumed to have less direct bearing on people's
• 16:37
  lives than, say, politics or personal finance.
• 16:40
  To that end, the application of academic language and highbrow
• 16:43
  concepts helps elevate the pop culture discourse, imbuing it
• 16:47
  with similarly greater significance.
• 16:49
  If you listen to this podcast, I probably don't need to convince
• 16:53
  you. But these topics are important.
• 16:56
  They can tell us a lot about our society at this moment in time,
• 16:59
  making them an important tool for analyzing and reflecting on
• 17:02
  the events happening around us. In a similar vein, people just
• 17:06
  love to know and discuss the tea.
• 17:09
  This is exactly what commentary content does, while often
• 17:13
  elevating stories by providing comprehensive analysis and
• 17:16
  context. Nuyen notes quote analysis
• 17:19
  videos satisfy an itch on an intellectual and potentially
• 17:22
  neurological level. Humans brains, some more so than
• 17:25
  others, have a tendency to derive meaning or see
• 17:29
  connections and patterns. In events where there may be
• 17:31
  none, many critics of Internet culture commentators claim that
• 17:35
  their content is simply gossip. While this is an attempt to
• 17:39
  trivialize this genre of content, gossip can be an
• 17:42
  important part of cultural learning and social development.
• 17:45
  A number of studies have explored what exactly
• 17:48
  constitutes gossiping and the role it plays in our lives.
• 17:51
  One important point of research is that gossip doesn't have to
• 17:54
  be negative or positive. Quote, UN quote neutral gossip
• 17:58
  as it can be referred to, is helpful in learning about what
• 18:01
  is going on around us. Quote gossip is a way of
• 18:03
  understanding the cartography of the community you're in.
• 18:06
  It's a means of understanding the structure of that community,
• 18:09
  and we're all part of multiple communities.
• 18:12
  Some people call gossip the chewing gum of the mind, Gary A.
• 18:15
  Fine, a sociologist at Northwestern University, tells
• 18:18
  The Daily Beast. The journalist also notes that
• 18:21
  gossiping can be used as a part of a whisper network to Quote
• 18:25
  help people protect each other against those in power who are
• 18:28
  prone to abuse. This type of gossip aligns with
• 18:30
  the objectives of cancel culture.
• 18:32
  Cancel culture aims to hold offenders accountable by
• 18:35
  stripping them of their status and power, and information
• 18:38
  sharing networks play a crucial role in achieving this goal.
• 18:41
  Therefore, gossip and commentary serve as important steps toward
• 18:45
  this objective. Lastly, people enjoy consuming
• 18:48
  commentary content because it feeds their ego quote.
• 18:51
  The ideological crux of such content is logic, or the guise
• 18:55
  of it at least, and evidence based observation rather than
• 18:59
  unfiltered hot takes. Depending on the topic at hand,
• 19:02
  Creators also don't have to divulge much detail about their
• 19:05
  personal lives or moral beliefs. It instead becomes an Ave. to
• 19:09
  demonstrate one's intellectual authenticity or observational
• 19:13
  authority. It is an unofficial pipeline to
• 19:15
  thought influencing, Nuyen continues for Vox.
• 19:19
  This thought influencing extends beyond the creators, however, as
• 19:23
  audiences are highly engaged in this type of content.
• 19:26
  People love to share their own opinions and comment sections,
• 19:30
  challenging the creator or bandwagoning on their ideas to
• 19:34
  also feel like they have contributed something meaningful
• 19:37
  to the conversation. Because of that, commentary
• 19:40
  content allows us to center ourselves in someone else's
• 19:43
  content, which is pretty unique to the genre.
• 19:46
  It makes us as the audience feel smart, valued, and validated.
• 19:50
  However, if people are engaging with commentary creators to feed
• 19:53
  their own egos rather than to genuinely learn, this mindset
• 19:58
  can leave users reluctant to listen and to consider
• 20:01
  alternative perspectives. And this reluctance, I predict,
• 20:06
  will be the downfall of this genre.
• 20:08
  Now, before I explore this further, I do want to note that
• 20:10
  commentary and analysis content really is the backbone of
• 20:14
  journalism and the media industry as a whole.
• 20:17
  Publications have been writing this type of content for years,
• 20:20
  whether in print or digital, but this episode in particular
• 20:23
  specifically refers. To social media creators, not to
• 20:27
  media and journalists. Over the past six months or so,
• 20:30
  it seems like audiences have a bit of commentary fatigue.
• 20:34
  My first indication of this shift was the Barbie movie,
• 20:37
  where people seemed really against hearing any deeper
• 20:41
  analysis of the film and any criticism was brushed off as if
• 20:45
  the person criticizing the film, it just didn't understand the
• 20:47
  movie. We talked about this a little
• 20:49
  bit in the Taylor Swift episode from a few weeks ago, but I
• 20:52
  myself absolutely contributed to this with the Barbie movie.
• 20:57
  COVID played a big role in this wild dichotomy that we now see
• 21:01
  in culture, where it gave us this appetite for deeper
• 21:04
  conversation and knowledge while also making us incredibly
• 21:08
  skeptical of authority figures. We became obsessed with over
• 21:13
  analyzing everything we read, watched and saw.
• 21:16
  We therapized and labeled all of our reactions and started using
• 21:20
  therapy speak in regular life to describe how and why we do
• 21:24
  things. It really pushed us to find a
• 21:26
  reason for everything because we needed to make sense of the
• 21:29
  reality that we were living in. So commentary creators were
• 21:31
  obviously going to thrive in that environment.
• 21:34
  But the flip side is that now we're exhausted.
• 21:37
  The answers we were seeking were not answered, and we felt gas
• 21:41
  lit and lied to by the authority figures who were supposed to
• 21:44
  protect us, whether that be the media, government officials or
• 21:47
  doctors and experts. And both sides of the political
• 21:50
  spectrum feel this. Those on the far right feel like
• 21:54
  COVID was this conspiracy and authority figures were lying to
• 21:57
  us about the virus, where the left feel like authority
• 22:00
  downplayed the severity of the virus and its impact on human
• 22:04
  health. And if you Chuck in the rise of
• 22:06
  AI, where the long standing belief that seeing is believing
• 22:09
  no longer holds up, these past few years have been the perfect
• 22:14
  breeding ground for anti intellectualism.
• 22:17
  A paper by Studio ATIO defines anti intellectualism as quote, a
• 22:22
  social attitude that systematically undermines
• 22:24
  science, based facts, academic and institutional authorities,
• 22:28
  and the pursuit of theory and knowledge.
• 22:30
  It is not so much a school of thought as it is a set of
• 22:35
  related strategies to uphold certain systems put in place by
• 22:38
  those in power. Anti intellectualism
• 22:40
  differentiates between intelligence and intellect,
• 22:44
  favoring the former because it is more about using ideas in a
• 22:47
  practical way, whereas intellect is more about gathering
• 22:50
  knowledge and challenging existing systems.
• 22:53
  Quote Because the continued pursuit of intellectual
• 22:56
  knowledge necessitates a certain discontent with dogmas, it often
• 23:00
  conflicts with and challenges widely accepted philosophies,
• 23:04
  societal structure, and the power dynamics of its time.
• 23:07
  As a result, anti intellectualism is evoked as a
• 23:09
  way to halt the acquisition of new knowledge that would
• 23:12
  undermine groups with power and privilege, and does so by
• 23:15
  painting these new ideas as a relevant to daily life or simply
• 23:20
  false. The rise in anti intellectualism
• 23:22
  has contributed to immediate literacy problem among all
• 23:25
  generations. A2020 analysis by Pew Research
• 23:29
  Center found that US adults who get their political news
• 23:32
  primarily from social media were a less knowledgeable about a
• 23:36
  wide range of political topics and B more likely to hear about
• 23:40
  a number of false or unproven claims when it comes to teens
• 23:44
  scrolling social media, Peter Adams for the News Literacy
• 23:48
  Project told Mashable. Quote, teens are really
• 23:51
  vulnerable to a kind of anti institutionalism and a kind of
• 23:54
  nihilism when it comes to the sources of information.
• 23:58
  A lot of them embrace this idea that all sources of information
• 24:01
  are out to manipulate them in some way, that all sources of
• 24:04
  information have secret motives. They have these opinions about
• 24:08
  mainstream organizations in ways that make them really vulnerable
• 24:11
  to manipulation by bad actors and conspiracy theorists.
• 24:15
  Journalists Chase D Benedetto and Elena Cavender suggests that
• 24:20
  a huge issue with media literacy today stems from the lack of
• 24:24
  primary source linking. On TikTok Quote.
• 24:27
  On Twitter, which has live links, a more usable search
• 24:30
  function, and both misinformation, pre bunks and
• 24:33
  timeline flags for misleading content, users can usually find
• 24:36
  the root source of a viral conversation.
• 24:39
  TikTok on the other hand is more like a dark tunnel where you
• 24:41
  rely solely on your For You page to bring light to whatever is
• 24:44
  going on. They also specifically point to
• 24:47
  TikTok commentary creators as a factor in the decline of media
• 24:51
  literacy. Quote creators whose brand
• 24:53
  involves discussing news or popular culture and there are a
• 24:56
  lot of them. Opt to screenshot headlines,
• 24:59
  summarize articles and offer their takes.
• 25:02
  But it's impossible to know whether the creator even read
• 25:05
  the article or if they're just offering a summary of the online
• 25:08
  discourse. Even worse are the accounts that
• 25:11
  spread false headlines, whether they know it or not.
• 25:13
  Without live links, all these possible situations are
• 25:17
  presented to you in the exact same way, with a familiar face
• 25:20
  on your for you page speaking authoritatively.
• 25:22
  So despite the fact that there is this very prevalent disdain
• 25:26
  for media and journalism right now, people still seem to want
• 25:30
  someone who feels like an authority figure delivering them
• 25:33
  the news and analysis. But I would argue that now, in
• 25:36
  2024, people are starting to question who that authority is.
• 25:41
  And when it comes to commentary content posted by random
• 25:44
  creators online, including myself, we have reason to be
• 25:48
  skeptical. As noted before, commentary
• 25:50
  content has gained increased popularity in recent years, and
• 25:54
  many TikTok users have jumped on that bandwagon.
• 25:56
  As a result, the quality of commentary content on the app
• 26:00
  has arguably worsened. Part of this is because of the
• 26:02
  changing nature of virality. With the digital sphere more
• 26:06
  saturated than ever, commentary creators are having to
• 26:08
  capitalize on what they know will go consistently viral
• 26:12
  criticism and hateful content. As for why negative content goes
• 26:16
  viral, a big part of it is because us as audiences enjoy
• 26:20
  feeling a sense of superiority. Quote hate, love and enjoyment
• 26:24
  are strong emotional responses. And sometimes when we find
• 26:27
  ourselves experiencing strong emotional responses even in the
• 26:30
  absence of an actual threat, neurotransmitters like
• 26:33
  serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin, for example, are being
• 26:37
  secreted by our brain, Jr. Iligan, A clinical psychologist,
• 26:40
  explain. This device now using hate for
• 26:43
  views is a not a new phenomenon by any means.
• 26:46
  This is largely how tabloids have operated for years and it
• 26:49
  has since seeped into the digital space, especially on
• 26:52
  TikTok which has many problems moderating hateful discourse.
• 26:56
  Consuming content that is negative also feeds anti
• 26:59
  intellectualism, which is another reason why we like it.
• 27:03
  This content allows us to generalize complicated
• 27:06
  situations or subjects with catch all beliefs which make
• 27:09
  them easier for us to understand or digest And commentary
• 27:13
  creators use a couple of techniques, whether intentional
• 27:16
  or not, to capitalize on our penchant for criticism.
• 27:20
  At this moment, you will see many commentary creators talk
• 27:22
  about the successes or failures of certain influencers.
• 27:26
  While this may be a way to offer constructive criticism, other
• 27:29
  times it feels more like a strategy to go viral.
• 27:32
  The creator behind Be Better Company is a recent example of
• 27:35
  this. After posting content related to
• 27:37
  his family's honey making business that wasn't getting a
• 27:40
  lot of views, he started a series where he discusses the
• 27:43
  downfall of different celebrities.
• 27:46
  His videos now go absolutely viral, even if he is not really
• 27:51
  saying anything new or groundbreaking about the
• 27:54
  celebrity. This seems to be because people
• 27:56
  are excited to hear bad news about someone they deem more
• 27:59
  successful than them. It makes us feel better about
• 28:02
  ourselves to hear that the Demilios, for example, are
• 28:05
  allegedly flopping. It also confirms our negative
• 28:08
  bias about influencers that they have no real talent and don't
• 28:12
  deserve their fame. Other creators will even be
• 28:14
  critical of their audiences. In a recent article by Fast
• 28:18
  Company, Steffi KO noted how some creators criticize their
• 28:22
  viewers for virality, A technique she labels as nagging.
• 28:26
  She mentions a video by YouTube, Stephanie Lang, with the title
• 28:29
  Congrats, You've Ruined Your Face.
• 28:32
  In the video, Stephanie explores the popularity of plastic
• 28:35
  surgery among celebrities. Asking When does plastic surgery
• 28:39
  start becoming self mutilation? While Stephanie's video touches
• 28:42
  on an important topic, KO says the title encourages clicks by
• 28:45
  taking a dig at the viewers quote.
• 28:47
  The frames of these videos are simple yet effective, targeting
• 28:51
  viewers in our most insecurities, urging them to
• 28:53
  click. The video titles alone confront
• 28:56
  viewers with the notion that they are lazy or insecure or
• 28:59
  hung up on a guy who doesn't care about them.
• 29:01
  Given the amount of content flooding the YouTube recommended
• 29:04
  page, KO admits that punchy titles are 1 surefire way to get
• 29:08
  engagement, but this approach can easily come across as mean
• 29:12
  and sinister. Despite this, the content
• 29:15
  ultimately relies on a reverse bait and switch strategy, hoping
• 29:19
  to leave the viewers feeling better than they did at the
• 29:21
  video's outset. Now this example is interesting
• 29:24
  because Stephanie Lang started as a beauty YouTube.
• 29:28
  She was in that class of OG Aussie Youtubers with Chloe
• 29:31
  Morello and Lauren Curtis. But as beauty content stopped
• 29:34
  getting views, she pivoted to commentary and her channel is
• 29:38
  growing again. And this really drives home the
• 29:40
  point. Commentary has been this trendy
• 29:43
  type of content for a few years now.
• 29:45
  With that, the genre has become over saturated and increasingly
• 29:49
  negative because clickbait, negativity and sensational
• 29:52
  perspectives will cut through that saturation.
• 29:55
  And this has led to the decline in the quality of content that
• 29:58
  we now get from this genre, where much of it now appeals to
• 30:01
  anti intellectuals who seek to confirm their biases rather than
• 30:05
  open their minds. To be clear, I am not
• 30:07
  specifically speaking about Stephanie's content here, I
• 30:11
  actually watch almost all of her videos and I appreciate what she
• 30:14
  is now trying to do with her channel.
• 30:16
  Another interesting way to look at the possible downfall of
• 30:18
  commentary creators is through the lens of the death of the
• 30:21
  monoculture. Pop culture used to be a
• 30:24
  monoculture. It was dictated by top 50
• 30:26
  charts, award shows, TV guides, and magazines.
• 30:30
  In other words, everyone was experiencing a similar cultural
• 30:34
  zeitgeist, Kyle Chaca writes for Vox Quote.
• 30:37
  Today, the word monoculture is used to describe a monolithic
• 30:41
  culture, the range of artifacts, characters, voices, and stories
• 30:44
  that a specific demographic Americans, for example, find
• 30:48
  recognizable and relatable. The early days of the Internet
• 30:51
  pre algorithm were similar. Everyone online in the early 20
• 30:55
  tens would be familiar with specific viral moments like
• 30:58
  Friday by Rebecca Black, Grumpy Cat.
• 31:01
  The white and gold are blue and black dress.
• 31:03
  While there are still some viral moments and universal reference
• 31:06
  points like the Barbie movie, it is becoming increasingly
• 31:10
  difficult to find someone who is on the exact same side of the
• 31:14
  Internet as you. That's because culture has
• 31:16
  become personalized. Today, algorithms dictate our
• 31:19
  feeds and are curated specifically to our interests.
• 31:23
  Quote digital platforms have made entertainment and culture
• 31:26
  very personalized, driven by algorithms that know you better
• 31:29
  than you know yourself. Spotify makes playlists curated
• 31:33
  to not only your specific tastes, but cater down to your
• 31:36
  listening preferences on the time of day and day of week.
• 31:39
  Social media has become entertainment where you can
• 31:41
  watch the daily insurance and outs of a girl on the other side
• 31:44
  of the world like a tiny reality show that only you and 4000
• 31:47
  others know about, writes Crystal Andrews for Z Feed.
• 31:50
  As a result of this, creators and businesses have had to learn
• 31:53
  how to manufacture virality. One example of this is the
• 31:58
  Athenos Feta saga of last year. Rachel Carton, a social media
• 32:02
  consultant and author of the Lincoln Bio Newsletter, claimed
• 32:05
  that Athenos Feta commissioned influencers to make the quote UN
• 32:08
  quote viral Hashtag roasted feta soup seem like a thing, even
• 32:14
  though it very clearly wasn't. When Carton reported on the
• 32:16
  hashtag roasted feta soup, it only had 19 posts on Instagram
• 32:21
  and 14 posts on TikTok, with some of these posts from
• 32:25
  influencers who had partnered with Athenos Feta.
• 32:28
  The roasted feta soup saga is just one example of how virality
• 32:32
  has shifted in the past decade. As Taylor Lorenz writes for the
• 32:35
  Washington Post Quote, the Internet has fractured into
• 32:38
  uncounted, disparate algorithms, platforms, and niche
• 32:41
  communities. The volume of content being
• 32:43
  churned out every day has skyrocketed, the life cycle of
• 32:47
  each piece of media has grown shorter, and social media
• 32:49
  platforms continue to inflate public metrics, devaluing
• 32:53
  previously impressive online stats.
• 32:55
  So as it becomes increasingly challenging to distinguish
• 32:58
  authentic virality from manufactured virality,
• 33:01
  commentary creators face difficulties in deciding what to
• 33:04
  cover. And as monoculture continues to
• 33:07
  decline, engaging in critical discussion about online trends
• 33:10
  becomes more challenging Because individuals are entrenched
• 33:13
  within their own digital bubbles, commentary creators
• 33:16
  are, of course also influenced by the algorithm, making it
• 33:19
  increasingly difficult to grasp the complete picture of a
• 33:21
  situation online. However, being so siloed also
• 33:25
  opens the door to the spread of disinformation, misinformation,
• 33:30
  and conspiracy theories in the pursuit of virality.
• 33:33
  It's easier for a TikTok, or YouTube creator to state an
• 33:36
  opinion as fact, for example, if most of their audience is not on
• 33:41
  that side of the Internet to check them.
• 33:43
  That being said, it is worth noting that the death of
• 33:45
  monoculture may foster deeper conversations with these
• 33:49
  specific niches, just as a personal anecdote.
• 33:52
  Some of our most niche coverage, like our Gwen Guiz episode for
• 33:56
  example, has been our most successful because no one else
• 33:59
  out there is covering it. Nonetheless, the death of the
• 34:02
  monoculture complicates reaching new audiences and ensuring
• 34:05
  diversity and viewership and opinion.
• 34:07
  What all of this really leads back to is that commentary
• 34:10
  creators are often not authorities on the topics they
• 34:13
  cover, and even if they are, it's almost impossible for us to
• 34:17
  verify that while scrolling the For You page.
• 34:19
  Well, expertise isn't always necessary to have strong
• 34:22
  opinions on a topic. Audiences are more skeptical
• 34:25
  than ever of what we see online. The decline in media literacy
• 34:28
  and the rise in anti intellectualism are contributing
• 34:32
  to a volatile environment for anyone in this commentary and
• 34:35
  analysis space, even those of us who are qualified.
• 34:39
  Commentary content might not be dead, but it's clear that over
• 34:42
  the years it's become increasingly sensationalized and
• 34:45
  its creators are becoming increasingly less credible.
• 34:48
  We don't need to delete TikTok, but the answer to this issue
• 34:51
  lands with us. The audience use the algorithm
• 34:55
  for good, says Peter Adams. Teach the algorithm that you're
• 34:59
  interested in credible information and have it sort of
• 35:02
  prioritize that for you. It's not a replacement for
• 35:05
  deliberate consumption of news and a deliberate sort of media
• 35:08
  diet, but it helps. Infinite Scroll is a podcast
• 35:12
  written, produced and presented by me, Lauren Meisner for
• 35:15
  Centennial World. Additional research and
• 35:18
  reporting is by Annabelle and David.
• 35:20
  Thank you guys so much for listening.
• 35:22
  I love you guys so much and I will talk to you next week.
• 35:25
  Bye.