Matthew Osborne
Chalk this up to one of the many things I don’t understand in our modern world. It’s one of those things that would have my kids go “OK, Boomer,” even though I am not one in age, but perhaps only in spirit.
I always need my kids’ help setting up video games or other technical devices at the house, and I am trying to learn and do better. But one thing vexes me above all others.
What is so interesting about watching random YouTubers?
Apparently, these kids somehow make money by being on camera playing video games. Why didn’t I think of this when I was a kid?
We had some epic video game showdowns back then, including a bevy of sports throwdowns in Classic games like NHL 94 and Double Dribble, for those who partook and remember.
We played through the entire Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves game and let Duncan walk o¢ with the one weapon that could have beaten the penultimate boss. House of work down the drain, we had to start over. I am sure someone would have enjoyed that.
Why, I don’t know, but if these kids on YouTube are making money, then we could have.
I just don’t understand where the money is coming from.
Ollie watches these guys for free, and he skips through the ads, so how much money can they be pulling down from that?
But somehow, one of these groups of kids has enough money to throw away to fi l their large house with balls and make it into a giant ball pit. Or they fill it with foam and make a complete mess of things.
And kids think they are so cool, especially when they find out these kids are somehow rich.
I don’t want to sound like an old man yelling for kids to get off my lawn (too late), but this seems incomprehensible to me.
Ollie, who used to say he wanted to be a chef when he grows up, now tells us he wants to work at Zaxby’s and be a YouTuber. I cringe to think what my late father would have said if I came to him with those career goals even at age 9. Even better, what would my grandfather have said if Pops came in with those aspirations?
So it’s a little bit of a parenting crisis. I can’t believe it is easy to make money as a YouTube gamer, otherwise everyone would do it. So in my mind, it’s like a little boy saying he wants to fly to Mars or be president. Both would be terrific achievements, but it might be best to have a backup plan.
(I was already told I was too old to join the Space Force, so I, too, understand the sting of broken dreams. I am pretty sure they said “old” and not “fat,” but it could have been two things.)
Ollie is a dreamer with unlimited intelligence and imagination, and you never want to discourage your child. But if the answers to life are to be found on ridiculous gamer YouTube channels, I don’t think I even know what the question is.
You take a certain amount of your own life experience as a child and translate it into your parenting, but we had no experience with cell phones, YouTube, Uber or any number of other dangerous “advancements” we have made.
So I guess we parents, like so many of those gamer kids, just flip the camera on and do it live.
Matthew Osborne is the editor of The Northeast Georgian. Reach him at 706-778-4215 or editor@ TheNortheastGeorgian.com.