Full transcript
0:00A few weeks ago, I made a video about
0:02what it was like for me to be a child
0:03actor. How you feel like you're always
0:05performing and you're always watched
0:07from a really young age. And I thought I
0:09was just telling my story. Maybe the
0:11story of the other child actors who
0:13related to it. But then something really
0:15weird happened. I got hundreds if not
0:17thousands of messages of people saying
0:18they related so much to what I went
0:21through even though they were never any
0:23kind of child actor. And I've been
0:25thinking about this a lot and I realized
0:27the scrutiny I faced for being a famous
0:30kid has become democratized. In the
0:33past, only celebrities would be watched
0:35all the time. But now, we all have our
0:37own social media accounts where we all
0:39try to make as many people as possible
0:41look at us. In the past, only
0:43celebrities would be attacked for
0:44mistakes in their private life or for
0:46saying something offensive in an
0:47interview. But now Gen Z is so hyper
0:50aware that they could say something
0:51wrong that might get them in trouble
0:52that we are afraid to even dance in
0:55public because we think it's going to
0:57get recorded. I also talk a lot about
0:58the predators in the child acting
1:00industry and I think we all now know
1:02it's not relegated to Nickelodeon. But
1:04one person had been sounding this alarm
1:06for several years before me and his name
1:09is Bo Burnham. Bo started performing
1:11professionally as a teenager. He posted
1:14silly songs he wrote for his brother on
1:15YouTube, but he quickly got a lot of
1:18scrutiny. In fact, the material he did
1:20as a teenager was so edgy that when he
1:22went to perform at colleges, students
1:24would protest outside. And when other
1:26comedians chastised him for not having
1:28paid his dues by doing a bunch of open
1:31mics at dingy clubs, he responded,
1:33>> "I want them to read 10,000 internet
1:35comments and see if they don't feel
1:36fully criticized." I mean, it's one
1:38thing for a heckler to have to heckle
1:40you on stage and own that moment, but
1:42when people are faceless and don't have
1:44to get the repercussions for that,
1:45>> the worst thing they've said about you.
1:47>> Uh, the first comment I ever got was uh
1:50when I was 15, it was go- go gadget
1:52[ __ ]
1:54That's all it was.
1:56>> Well, all right. Wait a second. That
1:58that seems supportive.
1:59>> I know.
2:02But
2:02>> and and honestly, I meant it as
2:03supportive.
2:05Pretty quickly, Bo was so open with his
2:07audience that his fans developed a very
2:09close relationship with him that he
2:11rejected because he felt it was too
2:12intimate when he's just a performer.
2:14>> I love you.
2:15>> No, you [ __ ] don't. You do not.
2:19Haters going to hate. Lovers going to
2:21love. You need to reject both sides of
2:22the spectrum to leave a healthy middle.
2:29>> Stop participating.
2:31Not a participatory thing going on up
2:33here. trying to immortalize something
2:36I've worked on for a long time. Shut up.
2:38>> Although, I will say the response of I
2:40love the idea of you was very
2:41quickwitted and like deep. In 2013, he
2:44released a special called What?
2:46>> What's the name of Bo Burnham's first
2:47special?
2:48>> Yeah.
2:49What's the name of it?
2:51>> Yeah, you're right. No, no. What? What
2:53is it? What is the name of it?
2:55>> That is correct. That is Yes, that's
2:56what it's called.
2:58>> What is it called?
2:59>> And its final number is called We Think
3:01We Know You. how through performing so
3:04many different people in his life think
3:05they know the real B.
3:07>> We've done studies. Young people do not
3:08respond to this, you know, introspective
3:11material or these challenges to the
3:13form. You know, young people want jokes
3:15they can relate to. Okay? So, write a
3:18write a silly song about Facebook. You
3:20know, write some write some jokes about
3:23uh Twitter or or sugary cereals or or
3:26razor scooters. Relate to them.
3:28>> We think you've changed, bro.
3:30>> We know best. You th we think we know
3:33you. We think we know you. We think we
3:36know you.
3:37>> So, because performing was all B knew,
3:40he started making shows talking about
3:42it. But he worried it would never be
3:44relatable because only other stand-up
3:46comedians or actors could know what he
3:48was going through.
3:48>> I try to make my show about other
3:51things, but it always ends up becoming
3:53about performing. I started performing
3:54very young as a teenager, you know,
3:56professionally. And as a comedian, what
3:58are you supposed to do? supposed to talk
4:00about what you know and what I knew
4:02always was performing. So to talk about
4:05traffic or laundry felt incredibly
4:08disingenuous but I worried that making a
4:11show about performing would be too meta.
4:14It wouldn't be relatable to people that
4:16aren't performers. But what I found is
4:18that I don't think anyone isn't. I was
4:21born in 1990 and I was sort of raised in
4:23America when it was a cult of
4:25self-expression and I was just taught,
4:27you know, express myself and have things
4:30to say and everyone will care about
4:32them. And I think everyone was taught
4:33that and most of us found out no one
4:36gives a [ __ ] what we think. So we flock
4:38to performers by the thousands cuz we're
4:40the few that have found an audience and
4:42then I'm supposed to get up here and say
4:44follow your dreams as if this is a
4:45meritocracy. It is not. Okay. I had a
4:48privileged life and I got lucky and I'm
4:50unhappy.
4:53They say it's like the MI generation.
4:55It's not it's not the arrogance is
4:58taught or it was cultivated. It's it's
5:01self-conscious. That's what it is. It's
5:03the it's conscious of self. What the
5:06social media it's just the market's
5:08answer to a generation that demanded to
5:10perform. So the market said here perform
5:13everything to each other all the time
5:15for no reason. It's prison. It's
5:18horrific. It is performer and audience
5:20melded together. What do we want more
5:22than to lie in our bed at the end of the
5:24day and just watch our life as a
5:25satisfied audience member? I I know very
5:28little about anything. But what I do
5:30know is that if you can live your life
5:32without an audience,
5:36you should do it. But then something
5:38unexpected happened. 13 and 14year-old
5:41girls started coming up to Bo after
5:43every show saying they felt exactly like
5:47he did. They felt so scrutinized by all
5:49their friends and they were always
5:50scared of doing something wrong because
5:52they felt like they were being watched.
5:54>> I would talk about my specific anxieties
5:56of being on stage performing, thinking
5:57that they were specific to what I was at
5:59the time, a 25-year-old male comedian
6:01with an audience. And I would do my
6:02shows and talk about that and
6:0413-year-old girls would come up to me
6:05after and say, "I feel exactly like you
6:07do." I felt understood by eighth grade
6:09girls before people truly truly
6:12>> Bo was so touched by this shared
6:13experience with 13-year-old girls that
6:15he made a whole movie about what it's
6:17like to be one in the most wholesome way
6:20possible.
6:20>> It really does make you feel like you're
6:23inside this 11-year-old girl
6:26>> in a profoundly wholesome way. At the
6:29height of his fame, Bo Burnham quit
6:31performing entirely because he was
6:33having panic attacks on stage, sometimes
6:36captured on video.
6:38>> I need
6:47love
6:50working on this.
6:51>> You're really
6:52>> Yeah, really, Sandy. SHUT THE [ __ ] UP.
6:55IT'S SO ANNOYING.
6:58When you know a show that well and it's
7:00that rigid and you do it that many
7:01times, you can just you can just lift up
7:04yourself, right? And then sometimes
7:06those thoughts can become, hey, freak
7:07out now. Why not just freak out? Like
7:09googling between shows like how to deal
7:11with stage fright and people going like,
7:13"Don't worry, like when you get up to
7:15talk in front of your class, your class
7:16doesn't even care that you're talking."
7:18And I'm like, "No, my anxiety might have
7:20been like literally hinging on the fact
7:22of I need a standing ovation every
7:23night." I went to see The Martian and
7:25got very very angry because I it it
7:27wasn't about anxiety and I didn't know.
7:28It felt like so perfect for my life.
7:30Like how is a story about a guy alone
7:33>> on Mars locked and it felt so true to me
7:35and then it was just like about how he's
7:36like a good botist or something.
7:38>> Bo was so conscious of all the material
7:39he ever did. He even apologized for all
7:41the jokes he made when he was 16.
7:43>> You could dig up old stuff of mine right
7:44now. Show it. I'd be horrified of
7:46horrified of it. I mean, the what was
7:48supposed to be funny in 2008, let alone
7:50from a 17-year-old stupid little white
7:52boy, was, you know, bad.
7:53>> The more I watch that clip, the more I
7:55just realize how much our culture around
7:58performing and all of its scrutiny has
8:01gotten to Bo. I've seen all his old
8:02videos. None of them are really
8:04objectionable. I've gone to a bunch of
8:06open mics, and a lot of the jokes he's
8:07so ashamed of would be made regularly. I
8:09think he's just really really embied
8:12this deep deep performance-based
8:14scrutiny where he's evaluating
8:15everything he's ever done based on how
8:17palatable of a performance it is. And if
8:20there are some things in his old videos
8:21that would make it less palatable as a
8:22performance today, then it's necessarily
8:24bad. Like even as he's critiquing so
8:26much of this, I don't think he realizes
8:28how deeply he's within it. Like I don't
8:30mean to criticize the guy too much, but
8:32I can't escape the conclusion that he
8:34helps create this performance culture
8:35that he hates so much. the idea that he
8:37is currently carrying shame for some
8:39edgy jokes he made in 2006 when he was
8:4116 that are again made like all the time
8:43right now. I have embarrassing,
8:45offensive, bad material for when I was
8:4716, 17. Stuff I cannot stand behind.
8:50>> You know what I mean? Truly, I was
8:51talking about like Helen Keller. It's
8:52not funny. It's actually mean. It's like
8:54mean and not cool and cheap. I'm pretty
8:56ashamed of it.
8:57>> And that he's careful to never make any
8:58kind of edgy joke like that again is
9:00exactly the kind of culture that's
9:02created Jenz's world of fear where we're
9:04scared to dance or talk openly or make
9:06mistakes. And in my opinion, also sort
9:08of pulls the ladder up behind him. Like
9:10Bo made some jokes that he says he
9:12wouldn't make now, but that's how he
9:14became famous. Like I don't know if you
9:15guys remember like 2008 Bo, this is
9:17literally what he built his career on.
9:19So if he's saying like these are the
9:20worst kinds of things you can ever say,
9:22well, what happens when like there's an
9:23upand- cominging comedian who really has
9:25to be so careful with what he says that
9:27he can't actually experiment with any
9:28jokes and never gets to the position Bo
9:30is in right now. And even for dressing
9:32up as Aladdin when he was 17, Mind needs
9:34no accuser. Bo is clearly plagued with
9:38this like faux guilt for like what? So
9:42Bo feel feels acutely the toll fame
9:45takes and he hates that Jenz and Jen
9:47Alpha aspire to become famous over
9:50anything else. He literally wrote a song
9:52called Art is dead saying the pursuit of
9:54fame only creates narcissists.
9:56>> Have you ever been to a birthday party
9:59for children? One of the children won't
10:02stop screaming cuz he's just a little
10:04attention attractor. When he grows up to
10:07be a comic or actor, he'll be rewarded
10:10for never maturing, for never
10:12understanding or learning. Every day
10:15can't be about him. There's other people
10:18you sell. This must be psychotic. It
10:21must be demented to think that I'm
10:23worthy of all this attention. Of all of
10:26this money you worked really hard for. I
10:29slept in late while you worked at the
10:30drugstore. My drugs attention. I am an
10:33addict, but I get paid to indulge in my
10:36habit.
10:37>> But even more poignantly, he created his
10:39own TV show about his alter ego who
10:41wants nothing more than to be famous.
10:43And the show really was ahead of its
10:44time because now we have whole
10:46generations who want to be famous in and
10:47of itself. Like, it's one thing if you
10:49want to be a famous singer so you can
10:50perform songs. So, every episode is Bo
10:52trying to become famous in a new way.
10:54You know, he'll be a magician one day or
10:56an influencer the next, whatever gets
10:57him likes. Hey. Knock knock.
11:01Who's there? Susan. Susan. Who?
11:07SUSAN. NO.
11:09>> She was black. She was She was black.
11:12Okay. She was black. Deal with it. Dad,
11:16>> it's me, Susan.
11:19>> Really? Jesus. Really? I'm living my
11:21dreams.
11:23>> WOW.
11:24>> HEY. UM,
11:26>> any of you girls got boyfriends? No,
11:27we're all single.
11:29>> Damn it. Girls are a dead end. Going to
11:31not shower anymore so you can keep your
11:32douchy haircut. Uh, it's not douchy,
11:34okay? It's Italian American. I'll let
11:36some corporate scum cut my hair so I can
11:38look like all the other sheep.
11:40>> The evening and mom's of friends.
11:44Notice how my eyes are wide open so the
11:46impression is not offensive.
11:48>> Hope he's good-looking. What if he were
11:50ugly? What if he were ugly? He isn't.
11:52Welcome.
11:52>> And some people say Bo even predicted
11:54Tik Tok in this clip. It's Friday night.
11:57We're feeling all right. So, let's get
11:59drunk off of alcohol.
12:01>> That's the whole song.
12:03>> Yeah, man. Think about it. Back in the
12:051940s, people used to listen to entire
12:06albums, right? And then Kenny Loggins
12:08comes along and people just want to
12:09listen to their favorite song. Nowadays,
12:11with iTunes, people just want to listen
12:12to their favorite part of their favorite
12:13song. And I'm cutting right to the
12:15chase.
12:15>> Yeah.
12:16>> But in the season finale, he finally
12:18achieves it when he becomes a better
12:19person and shows his girlfriend how much
12:21he loves her.
12:22>> And I'm in love with her.
12:25So, I'm going to tell her that. I'm
12:28going to go tell her that.
12:30>> But in the very last moment of the show,
12:32the audience realizes that no, even this
12:35was a ruse. Caring about his girlfriend
12:36just got B what he always wanted, fame.
12:39>> Stone is going to be famous.
12:44Stone is going to be famous.
12:48Stone is going to be famous.
12:52Stone is going to be baby.
12:58>> Oh my gosh, that stare literally gave me
13:01chills. And I think part of it is
13:03because we all have that stare now. I
13:05mean, some number of us are in
13:06relationships, so we can post them,
13:08which is a miniature version of B in
13:09this TV show. We're with another person
13:11for the fame they give us. Today, we
13:13measure what's popular and consequently
13:15what's important through likes and
13:17reposts and ratios. We're broadcasting
13:19to the world that attention is the most
13:21important thing. One of Bose's lines
13:22from his greatest standup special, Make
13:24Happy, epitomizes this for me in this
13:26musical rant where he almost lashes out
13:28at his audience. He screams at them,
13:30>> "You can tell them anything if you just
13:33make it funny, make it rhyme."
13:36>> He's expressing that all he's doing is
13:38soliciting the same momentary laughter
13:40from a crowd that slurps up whatever he
13:42serves them, a crowd that only follows
13:44him because he's famous. And if they
13:45still don't under you, then you will run
13:48it one more time.
13:50>> He says in interviews how every city he
13:51performs in thinks they're special. But
13:53no, Oklahoma City laughed at the exact
13:55same moments that Seattle laughed at the
13:57exact same moments that New York
13:58laughed. He feel like his performances
14:00are just algorithmic and fake. And
14:02because of social media, we all craft
14:04our own miniature performances. I made a
14:06video a few days ago saying I completely
14:09disagree with the girl who says, "If you
14:11just step outside, it still feels like
14:132007." Like, no it doesn't. And it seems
14:16like a lot of people have agreed. People
14:17are literally running marathons now.
14:19They are training for months, giving up
14:21their time with friends, giving up money
14:22from their career so they can post it on
14:24social media. Genuine question. Would
14:26you run a marathon if you couldn't post
14:27about it on Instagram? No. No. No. No.
14:31Yes. And then no. Yeah, that wasn't
14:33happening in 2007, girl. But now I might
14:36get even more controversial. I think
14:38that Bo is so insightful about
14:39performing because he's so deeply in it.
14:41that I don't think he even realizes how
14:44performative he is. After Bo made his
14:47movie 8th Grade, the star Elsie Fischer
14:49auditioned for her high school play but
14:51didn't get a part. So then B goes on
14:54major talk shows to millions and
14:57millions of people and says F you by
15:00name to her theater teacher and names
15:02the school the theater teacher works at.
15:04>> She didn't get cast in her school play.
15:06Mr. Donia from Thnos High School you.
15:10However, a lot of my friends actually
15:12went to high school with Elsie Fischer.
15:14And when I saw some of them at a play, I
15:15got to meet this infamous theater
15:17teacher, Mr. Dona. And I learned Elsie
15:19wasn't cast because the teacher didn't
15:20like her. It was because she was a
15:22freshman and wasn't right for the play
15:23that was made for the senior showcase.
15:26And like, even if that wasn't the case,
15:27like if he just didn't think she was
15:28right for a part, it doesn't mean that
15:30he's a bad person. So for Bo to just put
15:32this like whistened theater teacher on
15:34blast in front of America for like a
15:37couple laughs is something he very much
15:39did as a performance because it in no
15:42way reflected an actual vindictive
15:44theater teacher. And maybe this is even
15:45more personal for me because I do the
15:48same thing. Someone commented on my
15:49child actor video that in high school we
15:51met for a few minutes and they said it
15:53seemed like I felt I needed to be turned
15:56on. What?
15:57>> No, not not like turned on. And that
15:59makes me sad because that can make it
16:01hard to connect with people on a
16:02personal level. And back to Bo, this
16:04video is going viral on Tik Tok saying
16:07Bo Burnham was my high school bully. And
16:09if you listen to the way this guy claims
16:10Bo bullied him, it's from a very, very
16:13performative place. It's very much
16:14oriented towards getting a laugh. So Bo
16:17and I did theater together at St. John's
16:19Prep. He's right here and I'm right
16:21here. One day at rehearsal, I was
16:23talking about this girl that I liked and
16:24Bo just turned to me and said, "You know
16:26you like guys, right?" And honestly, he
16:28clocked me so bad.
16:29>> I regret to inform you that, you know,
16:32you like guys is really funny.
16:35>> He also convinced everyone else to say
16:37idaff every time I finished a story.
16:39Idgaff means I don't give an f.
16:41>> I'm sorry for laughing. I'm just
16:42picturing this guy saying anything. And
16:45all his friends look at him and go,
16:47>> I don't give a [ __ ]
16:49>> Hey guys, I'm playing Oliver in the new
16:51musical and they're all like,
16:52>> I don't give a [ __ ] It's giving when
16:55Greg Heftley made everyone pretend that
16:57Shurog was invisible.
16:59>> Did you just hear something? Better get
17:00to class. Shurog would have wanted it
17:02that way.
17:04>> Oh, is Greg. One time someone was
17:06talking [ __ ] about him in a Facebook
17:07group and I just jumped in and said, "Bo
17:09is one of my really good friends. He's
17:11an awesome guy. You don't know what
17:12you're talking about." And then Bo
17:14messaged me and he said, "We are not
17:17friends. Don't speak on my behalf." And
17:19then he blocked me.
17:20>> I'm crying at the don't speak on my
17:22behalf. He obliterated you. So Bo plays
17:25with the whole idea of performance in
17:27his performances. A lot of artists will
17:29do a call-in response at their shows,
17:31right? Like, "What's up, San Francisco?"
17:33And you're like, "Hey, that's the city
17:35I'm in. Oh my gosh, she said the name of
17:37the city I live in." So listen to how Bo
17:39lampoons that. If you like smoking weed,
17:42let me hear you say, "Hell yeah."
17:44>> Hell yeah.
17:45>> Gotcha. Get these mother
17:51is ruining America.
17:52I will never not think that is
17:54hilarious. And then he spoofs this
17:56performance motif again here.
17:58>> Word is if you haven't felt a person,
18:00say hail.
18:03>> If you felt of your nephew, say hail.
18:07Got it.
18:09>> Those bits do more than get a laugh.
18:10Artists make their audience feel like
18:12they're participating in the shows with
18:13a call-in response. But Bo reveals that
18:15it's mindless. People shout hell yeah
18:17before they even know what he's asking.
18:18It's all part of the act. If I had to
18:20explain the problems of the modern world
18:22in one sentence, I'd point to the fact
18:24that before a couple decades ago, we all
18:26knew about celebrities being depressed
18:28and having breakdowns and overdosing
18:30regularly because they faced such public
18:33scrutiny.
18:40>> And then I'd add that exact scrutiny
18:42that made those celebrities break down
18:44is now put on everybody.
18:46>> Why do you think Snapchat exists? Why do
18:48you think they would make a company for
18:5013-year-olds where uh a photo disappears
18:53after 24 hours? Why do you think kids
18:55would want to use that? You know, I've
18:56been to Silicon Valley. I've met these
18:58there their their building is full of
19:00300 people who are all employed to give
19:03children what they want, not what they
19:05need. The the base base interests of
19:08children's wants.
19:08>> Was anyone else surprised when he said
19:10he's met these people? Like, did Bo
19:12Burnham get a tour of Nvidia
19:13headquarters? Tim Alman just goes, "Hey,
19:15is that a feminine Eminem? slim shady
19:17lady who's nice cuz he
19:18>> texted Haiti.
19:19>> At the end of the day, you have a choice
19:20in your bed at night between all of the
19:23information in the history of the world
19:24or the back of your eyelids. We're
19:26hyperconnected and we're lonely. We're
19:27overstimulated and we're numb. We're
19:29objectifying ourselves and we're
19:31expressing ourselves.
19:32>> It's almost like to become popular on
19:33social media. You have to be this
19:34psychopath who can just like ignore
19:36everybody hating on you. I graduated
19:38college 2 and 1/2 years ago and the most
19:40important thing that I've learned is
19:42that the society that we live in does
19:44not value hard work nearly as much as it
19:47values delusional confidence. If you're
19:49confident enough, you can do whatever
19:51you want. If you have $50 and an
19:54internet connection, you can create
19:56business cards for whatever profession
19:58that you want to be in. I've been the
20:00CEO of Google for about 2 weeks now, and
20:02I leave my business cards everywhere.
20:04Hotels, bars, restaurants, Office Depot.
20:07I don't care. I get calls from people
20:09and they say, "Hey, you can't do this.
20:11This is fraud. It's illegal." And I say,
20:13"Well, take it up with the complaints
20:15department. Their number is on the
20:16card." And when they call the complaints
20:18department number, it redirects to the
20:20worst reviewed Applebees in my tri-state
20:22area. Can you imagine being angry at a
20:2525-year-old who's pretending to be the
20:28CEO of a major tech company, and when
20:30you call the complaints department
20:31number, somebody answers and they say,
20:32"Hi, welcome to Applebees. This is
20:34Stacy. Can I please put you on hold?" It
20:36infuriates them and it's funny.
20:38>> So, we empower the worst people in our
20:41society. Like Logan and Jake Paul were
20:43able to survive all their cancellations
20:46because they were like, "Fuck you." And
20:48they just kept going and now they're
20:50still around.
20:51>> What is a phone?
20:53>> What the definition of a phone changes
20:55every single day. Like, when's the right
20:57age to get a phone? I don't know.
20:58Because by the time your kid gets to
21:01that age, a phone is a completely
21:03different thing. When my kid's nine,
21:04he's not going to have an iPhone. Yeah,
21:05of course not, cuz it's going to be
21:07plugged into his head or whatever. It's
21:08not that they think the the world in
21:10their phone is real. It's they think the
21:12world in the real world is virtual and
21:14that this is actually just like
21:16>> a thing to be seen and everything I'm
21:19doing is actually a performance that can
21:20be captured and looked back on at any
21:22moment. And I'm not just living moments.
21:24I'm planning moments to look back on
21:27them. They're coming for every second of
21:29your likes. Because these companies like
21:31Twitter and uh YouTube and Instagram
21:32everything they went public and they
21:34went to shareholders. So they have to
21:36grow. Their entire models are based off
21:38of growth. They cannot stay stagnant.
21:40YouTube uh Twitter grossed $45 billion
21:44last year. It is in the red. It is
21:46unprofitable. It has to get more of you.
21:48We used to colonize land. That was the
21:50thing you could expand into and that's
21:52where money was to be made. We colonized
21:54the entire earth. There was no other
21:56place for the businesses and capitalism
21:58to expand into. And then they realized
22:00human attention that we can now they are
22:03now trying to colonize every minute of
22:05your life. That is what these people are
22:06trying to do. Every single free moment
22:09you have is a moment you could be
22:11looking at your phone and they could be
22:12gathering information to target ads at
22:14you. That that's what's happening. And
22:16the kids know it and they sense it.
22:18That's why their memes are all ironic
22:20and detached and self-reerential and 12
22:23layers deep cuz truth is completely dead
22:25to them and they know it. They look at
22:27the president. They look at the culture.
22:28They go, "What the hell is this?" They
22:29look at like Coca-Cola commercials that
22:31are winking at them and smiling and they
22:33go like, "Forget it."
22:34>> Yeah. And I want to add to that. When we
22:36were colonizing and exploring the world,
22:37the most venerated people were
22:39colonizers and explorers. Cortez,
22:41Hudson, Cartier, Columbus, a little
22:44later, Ammonson, and Perry. So, in the
22:45modern age of temporal colonization, we
22:48look up to the people who have the
22:50biggest amount of attention, the biggest
22:52influencers. So, wait, does this make
22:54eyes show speed the modern Doodto?
22:56Maybe. Everyone on Twitter tweets about
22:59everything every day. Every single day.
23:02That's absolutely insane.
23:03>> I partially agree. If people really were
23:05talking about everything, well, that
23:07would be awesome. You know, if we're all
23:08like discussing philosophy and history
23:11and Aristotle, what he means is people
23:12are only giving the most superficial
23:14takes to the most superficial stories.
23:16And so, it's up to you if I actually
23:17achieve depth. But this is why I try to
23:19incorporate history and philosophy in my
23:21videos. What is the feeling of walking
23:24through your life and not just living
23:25your life which is already hell and
23:27impossible
23:28but taking inventory of your life being
23:31a viewer to your own life living an
23:33experience and at the same time hovering
23:34behind yourself and watching yourself
23:36live that experience being nostalgic for
23:38moments that haven't happened yet those
23:40are really weird strange disassociative
23:42things that are that are I think new
23:45because of the specific structure of
23:47social media and the way it sort of
23:48disassociates our self from our self.
23:51Oh, he nailed it when he said being
23:53nostalgic for moments that haven't
23:55happened yet. Because I had such a weird
23:56childhood, I was desperate to get any
23:59sense of normaly I could. When I wanted
24:01to go to prom, I wanted it to be exactly
24:04the way it's supposed to be. When I
24:06joined clubs and had a high school
24:07friend group, I was like, it needs to be
24:08just like a normal kids. And I thought
24:10that was because I was a child actor.
24:12But you guys have proved me wrong. So
24:13many of you have said you felt the same
24:15way that you ironically would watch
24:16Nickelodeon and Disney shows and they
24:18would tell you what was normal. They
24:20would show you, you know, Hannah Montana
24:22or Good Luck Charlie getting into all
24:23these highstakes adventures every day
24:25with all these exciting friends and an
24:27exciting life. So, when your life felt
24:29boring and empty and your friends felt
24:31lackluster and like they didn't care
24:33about you as much as Emily Osmond and
24:35Hannah Montana or the pair of kings, you
24:37felt like you were broken, that you
24:39weren't living the life you were
24:40supposed to have. And that's to say
24:41nothing of we see all our friends post
24:44on Instagram all their huge friend
24:46groups and all the parties they go to
24:47that we weren't invited to. So, not only
24:49do we think we need to live this perfect
24:51life, we're reminded every day of how
24:53much we are not. So, this expectation of
24:55the normal life we're supposed to lead
24:57and then social media being a mechanism
24:59to constantly perform how normal and
25:01successful our life is means that our
25:03life becomes a performance. Rather than
25:06wondering, do I have enough friends? We
25:07wonder, do people think I have enough
25:09friends? Do I have as many friends as
25:10I'm supposed to have? At least for me
25:12and a lot of my friends, if I sit alone
25:14at lunch, I'm not worried about being a
25:15loner. I'm worried about people seeing
25:18me and thinking I'm a loner.
25:20>> The sort of generational signifiers are
25:22now becoming smaller and smaller and
25:23smaller. It used to be like, oh, I had
25:25an eight track and my father had vinyl.
25:27You I mean those were like 15 years
25:28apart. And now generational tent poles
25:31are happening every 6 months.
25:32>> Yes, I've been thinking about that a lot
25:34already. I date myself when I mentioned
25:36musically, let alone Vine or Dub Smash.
25:39And now that AI is so rapidly changing,
25:41it's hard to remember that like 4 years
25:43ago, no one had heard of it. And every
25:45medium gives us a new way to perform our
25:47lives for validation. People are sharing
25:50their like darkest secrets on Tik Tok or
25:52their most intimate photos on Only Fans,
25:54thinking they're going to strike it
25:56rich, thinking they are going to become
25:57one of the most venerated people in
25:59society, someone who commands a lot of
26:01attention. But the median earnings on
26:02Only Fans is $20 a month. And on Tik
26:05Tok, it's lower than that. So, you'd
26:06think when these people don't make any
26:08money that they would stop posting,
26:09right? Wrong. It was never about the
26:11money. The reason so many people post on
26:13social media isn't for money. It's for
26:15attention. Not necessarily because we're
26:16all narcissists. I mean, maybe, but
26:18because we've been taught from our very
26:20earliest childhood that not money, but
26:22attention is the most important thing
26:24you can have and you should look up to
26:26the people who have the most of it. In
26:27between scenes of Nikki Regikon, I
26:29rushed my trailer and make my three
26:30musically a day. I was like, "Okay, I
26:32have to keep up with these trends. I
26:33have to get my views up, my followers
26:34up." And I wasn't like making any money
26:36from that. A lot more kids talk about
26:38how badly they want to become a big
26:40Twitch streamer than they want to become
26:42a millionaire. So essentially, our
26:43entire lives become like this state of
26:45Schroinger's being where the things we
26:48do only have value in so far as other
26:50people value us for doing it. Our
26:53marathons only have value when people
26:55know we did them. Our trips to Spain
26:57only matter when people know we took
26:59them. And all of this is tragically
27:01IRONIC BECAUSE REALLY NO one cares that
27:03you went to Spain. They'll look at your
27:04photo for 2 seconds and never think
27:06about it again. You just spent like
27:08$4,000 to show up on like a hundred of
27:10your acquaintances Instagram feed for
27:12like 0.001%
27:14of their day. What an amazing power
27:17you've bestowed to all your friends that
27:18you're basically willing to pay them
27:20$100 each to glance at a photo of you
27:23from Spain for 20 seconds. So, it's
27:25worse than performing our whole lives
27:26for an audience. We're performing our
27:28whole lives for an imaginary audience
27:29that's not even watching us. They're
27:31like watching someone else on the side.
27:33And then sometimes they'll turn their
27:34heads and be like, "What's that?" Living
27:36our whole lives for someone to sometimes
27:38go, "What the what the hell is that?" If
27:40I weren't laughing, I'd be crying.
27:42>> If we could not post to social media, so
27:44many people would not be making the
27:45choices they're making because a lot of
27:46what people do is based on external
27:48validation and being able to post it and
27:50get likes, posting about getting
27:52engaged, posting about going on trips,
27:54posting at restaurants. If those people
27:55couldn't post about those things, like
27:57their relationship all the time, would
28:00they really be in it? I cringe when my
28:01friends make posts for their husband's
28:03birthdays or anniversary, oozing over
28:05how great they are because the texts you
28:07send me say otherwise. My god, my phone
28:10was stolen in the summer and I wanted to
28:12go to the beach but then thought to
28:13myself, I won't be able to post about it
28:15on my story. So, I decided to stay home.
28:17Wow. And again, just like empirically,
28:19if this girl did go to the beach and
28:21post a story about it, her life would be
28:23in no way improved. No one would be
28:25like, "Wow, Daffhany went to the beach.
28:28>> She's a cool cat." Our collective
28:30narcissism is so grandiose that it's
28:33completely disconnected from any part of
28:35the actual world. And so because Gen Z
28:38grew up on social media, a lot of us
28:40have internalized it. Even when we're
28:42not on social media, we live like we
28:45are. It's literally gone to the deepest
28:47part of our psyche. I feel like
28:49everything I do is performative because
28:50I felt like there's an imaginary camera
28:52in my head recording a YouTube video of
28:54me ever since I was seven. Like we're
28:56all in the Truman Show because we are
28:58always being watched, but we're kind of
29:00not because we think people care about
29:01us like they cared about Truman when
29:03they don't. It's always funny to me when
29:05someone posts, "I'm taking a break from
29:08social media. If you need to contact me,
29:11here's my phone number, social security,
29:13mother's maiden name, first pet name."
29:15>> It's like, was that really necessary?
29:17Like, I think I can stomach 3 months
29:18without seeing Justin Keith post the keg
29:21stands at his frat party. Like, I'll
29:23>> I'll be okay. I hate when I meet a
29:25pretty girl in real life and I go on her
29:27Instagram
29:28and she ain't got no post.
29:31You're not posting. [ __ ] the world
29:33deserves to see that beautiful face.
29:35What the [ __ ] are you doing? This is a
29:36little weird. It almost feels like this
29:38girl's beauty is only validated if she
29:40posted on social media when ironically,
29:42this girl's beauty made such an
29:44impression on this woman because she saw
29:46her in person. Seeing someone pretty or
29:48talented on social media is so much less
29:51memorable than seeing it in real life
29:52because they'll be next to a thousand
29:54people who look and do the same thing as
29:56them. But I'll say, of course, social
29:58media is now the main medium of
30:00communication. That's how Bo Burnham got
30:02famous in the first place. But because
30:03social media is so prevalent, it's now
30:05monetized in every way conceivable.
30:08Maybe younger generations who grew up
30:09with this won't get it. But the internet
30:11didn't used to have so many ads. You
30:13would only get ads if you went to like a
30:15shopping website. If you saw the amount
30:16of ads that we get today, it meant that
30:18your computer had like 50 viruses.
30:25Unlock Life Premium so you can see the
30:27sunset the whole way through. And if you
30:30upgrade to Life Enhance, we'll show you
30:32what the sunset actually looks like. And
30:34if you upgrade to Life VIP, we'll show
30:36you what the sunset looks like, but this
30:38time for real. Which finally brings me
30:41to this trend I've seen on social media
30:43that is so dystopian it hurts. A number
30:46of people talk about how embarrassing it
30:48is to listen to Bo Burnham in 2026
30:51because he doesn't make real music. He
30:54makes like YouTube music like you could
30:57use some help.
30:59Don't be racist. I am a building.
31:05What's so ironic about that is they're
31:07posting this on social media. Why would
31:09you ever feel the need to post a song
31:11that you're not listening to? Like,
31:13imagine me making a video that said,
31:14"Hey guys, here are all the movies I
31:16didn't watch this week." If you're going
31:18out of your way to say a song that you
31:20don't listen to is anything, that's
31:23obviously performative because it's not
31:25something you actually feel or care
31:26about because you're not even listening
31:27to the song. It's just you trying to
31:29signal that you listen to sophisticated
31:31music. Like, you legit sound like the
31:33people who go, "My favorite movie isn't
31:34enjoyed by the masses. It's by an
31:36obscure French director, Jean Bashon.
31:39Like, there are definitely people who
31:40just don't like Bose's music, and that's
31:41fine. But what I see more often is
31:43people relegate Bose's music to
31:45something less than music. They say,
31:47"Oh, he doesn't make real songs. He
31:48makes like YouTube music, therefore I
31:50dismiss it." It's the same kind of
31:52person who like dismisses a popular
31:53movie like Pitch Perfect or Frozen
31:55because it's popular and it's not
31:56highbrow like Midnight Cowboy or Easy
31:59Rider. But this whole distinction is a
32:00false one. Popular movies can be good
32:02and unpopular movies can be bad. CS
32:04Lewis said, "Calling some art highbrow
32:06and lowbrow gives us the satisfaction of
32:08despising certain authors without
32:09imposing on us the labor of showing why
32:12they are bad." Like, for example,
32:13there's a famous children's book called
32:15The Tale of Peter Rabbit that CS Lewis
32:16was a big fan of. He brought that up to
32:18a fellow professor of literature, and
32:19she just looked at him appalled. She was
32:21not prepared to even call the book bad,
32:23but she simply dismissed it as trivial,
32:25and that any normal evaluation of
32:27literary merit need not apply. And Lewis
32:30goes on that he often hears his friends
32:31praise their favorite book but end it by
32:34saying of course I know it's not real
32:36literature. But Lewis says this entire
32:38dismissal of lowbrow art whether it's Bo
32:40Burnham or the tale of Peter Rabbit
32:42doesn't make sense because nothing can
32:44be inferior if it's of a different kind.
32:46If lowbrow books really are in a special
32:48class whose merits or demerits are a
32:50priority deemed unworthy of even
32:52literary consideration. If Boerno's
32:54music is just YouTube music, so regular
32:56music criticism doesn't even apply, then
32:58you can't say that they are any worse.
33:00You cannot beat a man unless you enter
33:01the same competition with him. You
33:03cannot pass a man in a race unless you
33:05are both running in the same direction.
33:06It also lets bad books and bad music get
33:09away with being praised because they're
33:11seen as sophisticated, all while
33:12dismissing really good storytelling
33:14because the medium is too avantgard or
33:16popular. And if you're so performative
33:18that you don't even listen to the music
33:19you like, but the music that you think
33:21you should like, you're lost. As soon as
33:23you divide media on any grounds other
33:26than you liking or not liking it, you
33:28become performative. You should read and
33:30watch things for their own sake, not so
33:32you can make clever remarks about them
33:34on TikTok. To be considered a
33:36sophisticated person, so if I have one
33:38recommendation for you, it's watch the
33:39movies and read the books that actually
33:41speak to you, not the ones that you
33:43think are supposed to speak to you. But
33:45more profoundly, live the life that
33:48speaks to you, the life you were meant
33:50to live, not the life you think you're
33:52supposed to live. Because that's the
33:54entire problem here. If social media
33:55rewarded authenticity and you didn't
33:57change anything whenever you posted,
33:59then social media wouldn't even be a
34:00problem. The entire, not part of it, the
34:03entire reason social media is noxious is
34:06because it makes you not do the things
34:08you actually want to do in favor of the
34:10things you think you're supposed to do.
34:12So these people who say
34:13>> you listen to Bo Burnham in 2026
34:16>> you are literally everything that's
34:17wrong with the world just extrapolate
34:19that principle to life and that's the
34:21entire problem of social media living or
34:23not living according to how embarrassing
34:25it might be on the internet literally
34:27running a marathon or traveling to Spain
34:30so you can be approved by the vague
34:32internet consensus. And while everyone
34:34is promoting this internet consensus you
34:36look at your actual life and you see
34:37you're truly not living up to it. You're
34:39just posting that you are. You see
34:40everyone posts photos with all their
34:41real friends, but you know the people
34:43you post photos with are just fake
34:45friends that you're not really that
34:46close with. So you feel even worse. And
34:48it's all because of the people who think
34:49it's embarrassing to listen to Bo
34:51Burnham in 2026 as if music has an
34:54expiration date. You know, like it was
34:57really cool to listen to Bo Burnham in
34:582014, but in 2016,
35:01that's a bad idea. Like, hey Casey, do
35:04you like that movie Ferris Pewer's Day
35:05Off? Oh yeah, I liked it last week, but
35:08next week I am going to hate it. And
35:10then a month from now I'll probably be
35:11in the middle. Like what? So please live
35:13an actual life and not the ghost of one.
35:16I know I felt this so acutely, but I
35:18always thought it was because I was a
35:20child actor because I was performing so
35:22much that it bled into my real life. But
35:23I've learned from you guys that you have
35:25felt the same way.
35:26>> Do you feel like the last four years of
35:27your life since 2020 haven't really felt
35:29like actual reality? This video is for
35:31you. I've seen a lot of videos on here,
35:32particularly from millennials, about how
35:34life since 2020 just hasn't we almost
35:37can't even remember it. It doesn't
35:38really feel like it's been reality and
35:40it's feel like it's been erased from our
35:43actual life. The cause of this
35:44phenomenon is the fact that we're not
35:46living life in reality anymore. 2020
35:49smashed our existences into our phones
35:51and into the digital world and we are no
35:54longer existing in our physical space
35:57and only dealing with problems that are
35:58within our circle of influence. We are
36:00living in a digital world that isn't
36:02even real. It's basically a video game.
36:03And we're also exposed to all of the
36:05awful things that everybody across the
36:07entire world deals with all the time. We
36:09are still organic beings and our brains
36:12have become completely connected to this
36:14artificial device. That's what's
36:17destroying it. We're not cyborgs. We'll
36:19eventually be cyborgs. We're not cyborgs
36:20yet. And even in situations where we
36:22actually live life, where we break out
36:24of our routine, where we go on a trip,
36:25where we, you know, whatever, take a
36:27vacation, you're still locked into your
36:30same cycle of unhealthy behaviors. Even
36:33if you go on a trip, the whole time
36:35you're thinking about your phone, what's
36:36happening in the phone, what are you
36:37missing out on social media? Oh, well,
36:39people are going to love this trip I'm
36:40on. I got to make sure I I take videos
36:42and I post it and I get likes and all
36:44this stuff. Life just seems to basically
36:45disappear when you're trapped in a
36:47routine. We are all in a routine. A
36:49routine of our brains being just
36:52completely connected to whatever is
36:53happening within within this device.
36:55>> He's right. Psychologists and
36:56neuroscience have known for a very long
36:58time that when your days look the same,
36:59time seems to pass faster. Well, if
37:01you're in lots of different locations,
37:02but your actual experience is the same
37:04because you're on the same social media,
37:06then time's going to pass faster.
37:08>> Focus on the things that physically are
37:11in front of you and finding joy in those
37:13things. Again, don't feel like any of
37:14those things needs to be compromised
37:16with filming it or like, oh, other
37:18people need to experience this with me.
37:19No, they don't. And don't let the robot
37:22be responsible for what makes your brain
37:24feel good because it's artificial. It's
37:26not actually really making your brain
37:28feel good. And for every little hit of
37:29dopamine that you get from a like or
37:31whatever, it also destroys and makes you
37:34feel like everything in the world is
37:36awful all the time because that's most
37:38of the content that floats at the top of
37:40social media. know that all of most of
37:42your perceived threats and anxiety exist
37:44in this phone and if you shut it off
37:45they're gone
37:47and maybe go hug your your dog, okay?
37:50>> So, please share if you felt this way,
37:52too. I'll respond to as many comments as
37:53I can. And I really want to thank our
37:55patrons who make this possible. When I'm
37:57done chatting in the comments, I'm going
37:58to talk about this even more in our
38:00Patreon. And thanks to our newest
38:01patron. I don't have my glasses on, so
38:02I'm going to squint. Elelliana Gabaldi.