YouTube : The Accepted Drug

I'd seen it before, I’d laughed at it before, I’d even sent it before, yet, there was this dying urge inside of me to see it, to laugh at it, to send it once more. It had occurred to me that maybe I was addicted, maybe I couldn’t get enough, maybe I couldn’t stop. Despite this, I continued, hour after hour, failing to remove myself from the unholy grave known as YouTube.

- Eesha Ramkumar

YouTube was supposed to be my escape, my freedom, an uncertified ritual. It seemed to remove me from the fears, the nerves, and the piling homework on my desk. YouTube was the unofficial language of fun and culture, consuming me with words, dance moves, comic sketches, literally everything.

Throughout school, it seemed like everyone was addicted. People would talk about the latest video they saw, the YouTuber with the most subscribers, or the clip of a celebrity who lip synced. It seemed almost cruel to have not watched those videos, especially when you had nothing to contribute to the conversation. It became the reason kids got an hour less of sleep, the reason their mind could not fully grasp the new concepts at school, the reason their eyes looked like two big shopping bags every morning. YouTube was the accepted drug.