A lot of people have heard of, and been a part of, the YouTube time suck, including myself. It goes something like this: You go home, curl up in a blanket and decide to watch one video from your favorite Youtuber. The video is eight minutes long, not bad. The eight minutes is quickly up and suddenly a related video along the side catches your eye. You click on that one, and thus the cycle continues until you’ve spent two hours online.

In today’s society, almost everyone has access to the internet and it’s wonders. Using this popularity to their advantage, Youtubers are becoming more and more well known. Look at PewDiePie – a Swedish gamer who has more than 32 million subscribers and averages 2.7 million views per video while making more than $4 million dollars a year (not counting his merchandise sales). The popularity of Youtube has led more and more people to flock to cameras and editing software as they try to make a profit off of talking to a camera. But not everyone will succeed. Youtubers have to be entertaining and captivating, qualities not everyone possesses. No one wants to watch a seven minute long video of a person mumbling about how bad their life is.

Personally I love watching gamers, they’re one of my favorite type of videos. Youtubers like CinnamonToastKen, Markiplier, Seananners, and CriousGamers are on my subscribed list. People can criticize that they aren’t doing anything but recording themselves playing a game and screaming or that you can just play those games yourself, but for me and others it’s like watching a sport. Plus, I’m too scared to play horror games, so watching someone else play them while making funny comments is perfect.

Another highly viewed section of Youtube are the video bloggers- or vloggers- people who record and add commentary to their daily lives. For me, to listen and be entertained by someone talk about their life they have to be captivating and interesting. Which is why I believe that people like Danisnotonfire, Marcus Butler, and Tyler Oakley are among the top vloggers. Specifically Danisnotonfire. He’s just a common 23-year-old British male who talks to a camera about normal issues. The fact that he talks about experiences everyone goes through in a unique and creative way makes his channel different from others.

The next video category that I find myself clicking on during the school year is the education tab. Channels like Crashcourse and Scishow have helped me out significantly throughout this year alone. Videos on Crashcourse range from world history (something that has assisted me in WHAP) to summaries of popular school books, while Scishow includes everything from biology to chemistry to physics. I don’t know about you, but watching a quick ten minute video before a quiz or test is immeasurably helpful.

Finally there are the deemed ‘beauty gurus’ of Youtube. These are people, almost all girls, who teach viewers makeup or hair tutorials and discuss the latest fashion trends. Sadly, I can’t give you any example channels because I don’t partake in watching these videos. I just don’t find them at all interesting, although I do understand how there might be a following for them. I feel like you can just ask your friends or learn from experience and not have to watch a 15-minute video on how to match your shoes with your shirt.

Whether I’m watching a gamer to just relax or watching a quick explanation on ionic compounds for a test tomorrow I always find great pleasure in YouTube. For me, and millions of others, it has become a suitable source for spending extra time, and it will be around for a long time to come.