Trending: YouTube influencers sharing stories of personal mental health issues

Lately, YouTube influencers have been posting videos dealing with their own personal mental health issues.

Lately, YouTube influencers have been posting videos dealing with their own personal mental health issues.

When one thinks of the term “influencer” they normally think of someone influencing or affecting someone’s behavior in a positive way. Over the years, YouTube has built a platform where video creators have become “influencers” with their primary job being to create content for their viewers. Many YouTube influencers say they post videos to put a smile on their viewers’ faces. But, how can these influencers make their subscribers happy if they are not happy themselves?

It appears that the social media influencers can fabricate their lives to look much happier and better than they really are. In fact, anyone on social media is capable of doing so, not just the so-called “influencers.” Recently, however, the YouTube influencers have decided that their own personal difficulties are nothing to be ashamed of and have begun sharing such personal information on their YouTube postings. 

Some of the world’s favorite YouTubers including Elle Mills, Jake Paul, Alisha Marie, the Dolan twins, and Lilly Singh, and they all have posted videos talking about their anxiety, depression, or mental health struggles. When people come to YouTube as a happy place to watch videos of the people they love, it is almost a let down to see that the people they support are unhappy after they have previously posted videos  depicting how perfect their lives are. 

Not only have these YouTubers posted about their struggles, but a few of them have posted videos saying that they are taking a “break” from YouTube. Singh acknowledges her break is because she is “mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted.” For influencers that post videos everyday or every week, it is their job to make sure they don’t miss a video even if it leads to no sleep or stress. This is what YouTube calls a “burnout.” This is a feeling of exhaustion and lack of pride in the content they produce.

Is it a coincidence that almost every YouTuber deals with some sort of mental health issue or does YouTube have something to do with it? YouTubers are pressured and forced to do many things behind the scenes that their subscribers do not know about. YouTuber Emma Chamberlain states that she can spend up to 30 hours editing just one video. As she gets about 33 million views on each video along with all the other big YouTubers, they are pressured to get a certain amount of videos posted a week which can lead to major stress and anxiety. In their heads the stress doesn’t matter because if they are getting a video up for their fans, that’s all that matters. Yes, this does show dedication but it also produces an example of a dangerous work ethic to their subscribers. 

YouTube sees these burnouts as not such a bad thing. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illnesses, one in five adults in the U.S struggles with mental health issues. These YouTubers posting these videos can be a sense of comfort for their subscribers dealing with the same problems. Many people go to YouTube for advice, whether it is for a cooking recipe or a DIY. They can now have a feeling they’re not alone and the people they support are going through the same struggles. YouTube created a playlist for videos that only relate to mental health and burnouts. Rather than putting a smile on ones face because they are vlogging about what they had for breakfast, they can now put a smile on ones face because viewers can see that nobody’s life is perfect. 

When YouTube started in 2005, it was created for people to post videos that they enjoyed doing for fun. Then, YouTube became really popular and people posting videos also started to become popular. When YouTubers hit a certain amount of views on a video, they start getting paid. This wasn’t taken very seriously until recently when YouTube became a full time job for most of the creators. It sounds like a dream job, but is it really?