I have a deeply embarrassing secret to reveal today, a pleasure so guilty I have thought long and hard about whether to release this essay at all.
I have recently become a consumer… of reaction videos.
You know, sometimes I’m a very disdainful person; I really need to work on that. I have a bad habit of looking down on things I don’t understand. Astrology. Ghost hunting. Video games. ASMR. Reaction videos.
Who watches someone watch things? As it turns out, I do.
An introvert is someone energized by solitude and drained by social interaction. An extrovert is someone energized by social interaction and drained by solitude.
I’m an introvert. For me, social interaction is like exercise. When I do it right, it feels great. But no matter what, I need a long time in an empty room after.
I’ve always loved the debates and conversations I watch on YouTube, but this is different. My mind was more relaxed, I even experienced some bonding.
I’ll let you into my life a bit, I don’t have much experience with black Americans. I have an aunt and two cousins who are black, but they are African. My uncle has worked and lived in Africa for most of my life.
It was, quite simply, a beautiful breaking down of barriers as I watched a tatted rapper with dreadlocks and gold rings on his fingers laugh at Bo Burnham and compliment his lyrics, or a first generation Thai-American cry at the end of Lord of the Rings, or a vocal coach break down David Draiman’s rendition of The Sound of Silence.
Quite apart from the social circles I would otherwise have never accessed, it feels good to share the things I love with people who appreciate them.
These feelings, it must be said, can be dangerous. Like porn can steal your love life, like Spotify can kill your piano practice, these reaction videos can go a long way toward filling the void left by a nonexistent social life.
On the other hand, my new friends are pretty cool.
