Gen Z and Millennials Need Hobbies, Not a Personal Brand
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- Опубліковано 29 тра 2024
- In this video, we talk about the rise of personality branding online and how the internet (especially gen z) has been monetizing their hobbies and lives online at the sacrifice of genuine authenticity and connection. We're currently in a time where everyone is a brand, everything is 'under surveillance' and fewer and fewer things are authentic anymore.
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Timestamps:
0:00 intro
2:54 the personal branding of it all
3:40 what's the situation?
7:59 not monetizing your hobbies
12:27 why do we do this?
17:46 this is nothing new
19:15 is this harmful
#imurgency #genz #hobbies #commentary
I fear we are slipping into some late-stage capitalism horror show where to make a living everyone has to advertise to each other, and everything has to be monetarized or you will live in a tent.
Million dollar merit is closer than we think 😭
You might be on to something there
we are living in black mirror
@@yourkingreturnsI said the same thing 😂
Yall watched that Black Mirror episode ? We’re in it
I feel like some genz and millennials obviously didn't watch the highschool musical movies cuz this is literally what troy was having mental breakdowns about
“Stick to the status quo!”
I think they need to sing to it haha
I didn’t watch them cos they were shit..
"This is not what I want... This is not what I planned..."
@@BBallantine223how do you know they were shit if you didn’t watch them…
The concept of identity has become so foreign to Gen Z that we reinvented it but through the lens of business and money. We’re so cooked
Isnt that the running gag of gen Z. Reinventing stuff in the most toxic form possible.
Harvard business review’s definition of a brand “how you want people to see you and representing your personal values” is literally just describing a personality. We’ve been so conditioned by social media and capitalism we’re starting to capitalize human behavior 😂
I feel like this might allude to some of the modern pitfalls described in Guy Debord's Society of the Spectacle?
Your personality is innate though, it has nothing to do with external factors, especially "how you want people to see you"
Legit I told myself that other people perceive me a certain way so I have a personal brand without realising it but then I was like - NO, GIRL THAT'S CALLED HAVING A PERSONALITY.
This is not what personality is tho ? Personality is innate, you can be compassionate and nice without wanting people to perceive you that way, the reverse works you can be rude and people perceive you like a piece of sheit yet don’t want this perception
Then it’s not reputation too because reputation is outside of your own control, you can have a bad reputation yet you did nothing ,in your opinion, to earn it
If anyone IRL tries telling me they’re a brand I’m just gonna go to sleep because it’s getting so goofy at this point. Like okay Kelloggs 🥴
I’m ctfuuuuuuuuu
😂😂😂
Yes! It's like we're all being encouraged to become sims and become a source of entertainment for others and I think that's the reason why so many people either act or look the same. This is definitely going to be the reason for a rise in identity crisis if it hasn't already.
It's literally that one Black Mirror episode... 1 million merits is the episode I think
@@nuggetts_momma1324Wasn’t it ‘nose dive’ with the actress from Jurassic World? Where she always gives star ratings to people in real time and everything in her world is based on that rating?
@@lewinpark7924 Not that you asked me, but yes lol. And it went sooo far downhill.
@@diandriasmith889 It’s by far my favorite episode! I always tear up at the end when they can finally release all their pent up anger and scream silly insults at each other. It’s such a great ending.
You are not wrong like even getting tattoos like it feels like you are more unique if you don't have tattoos at this point just as a random example lol.
Lack of well paying jobs and toxic work environments are fueling this
This is such an important variable in this whole problem! I couldn't agree more!
Everyone needs a “side hustle” to get by now and with the rise of the “gig” economy, everyone has to be their own marketing and PR department
i agree!! our last semester of graphic design, in college, was all surrounded by “creating our personal brand” for ourselves when we graduated.
Exact reason why I'm unplugging from all social media, including youtube! All summer to spend time with myself and my thoughts to figure out who i want to be when my phone isn't consuming all of my attention
good for you! it’ll be such a positive experience
@@prettyroach❤
I gave up social media around 3-4 years ago and just kept UA-cam. I gave up UA-cam along with it for 6 months I think it was eye opening. I’m going to do it again. Once content starts getting redundant and repetitive again yt loses its appeal and I regret coming back.
@@TamTam9-15 exactly! Once, I found myself scrolling on UA-cam endlessly bc I have nothing to watch or nothing else to do. I'm like yea youtube gotta go too!
Good luck! I might be trying the same thing
About the hobbies, and how people can’t help but to try to make money off of it, I always remember how people would do hobbies growing up and be told by older generations that they can’t make any money doing xyz, such as art or journaling - we grew up being told we can’t make money off of it so I’m not surprise so many people are trying to do so because they feel like they’re proving the older generation a point
Makes sense
Makes sense
Also, we're in a total economic crisis. We can't afford to do many things just because we enjoy them, but it's getting out of hand
doing personal things for a check rather than doing it for yourself is the road straight to burn out
First hand experience here to say I 1000000000% agree
And personal hell
It’s so embarrassing, honestly. I feel like no one is authentically themselves anymore especially those who get much of their inspiration from the internet. Same bags, same shoes, same hairstyles, same cosmetic procedures, same make up - all to fit into an image they believe gives them more meaning.
Not everyone! 🫶🏻
If you're not a business, you don't need a brand. I'm a choreographer. I'm a business. I use a brand. It's not in authentic. I need a brand in order to market myself to get work the simple fact Normies think that they need a personal brand is insane.
calling people who don’t own a business “normies” is crazy
@@kphoria1009you obviously don't get it
It kinda reminds me of another video about acting rich just to go broke. And imo i feel like its a bit of a dangerous game with yourself because of how hard people will go just to hold onto that image they have. And try to be that it person for the public and just people in general its almost brainwashing.
And to even add onto that its sad, because I even see my own friends do it. They won't act like themselves and try to push that persona. Their socials would look a certain way to perfection no mistakes at all. And then it just starts to come off as artificial.
Gotta wonder how long they'll keep it up and what'll happen when they inevitably break. Going into debt for luxury goods won't last forever
Can't we just live our damn lives in peace. Daily Life is already stressful, why do we have to stack building a "personal brand" onto of that jenga tower too.
We don't have to if we don't want to 🫶🏻 Long as we don't let the robots take over all the real jobs 😋
There are sooooo many buzzwords that I hate that people learned and overly used.
I’m not gone hold u, this is how I feel about ppl constantly selling e-books. I’m tired……
The younger generation likes labels and to put themselves in boxes. As you get older you'll realize that's not the way.
12:18 - You did in fact eat that.
If your script was a paper, the ELA teacher in me just wrote “Great Transition!” In that random space between the second and third paragraph!
I find this online branding somewhat contributes to people judging and ghosting others for superficial reasons. Totally disregarding that people aren't carbon copies of each other, and they don't have to be such to develop a strong friendship
It’s so limiting to have a personal brand. Self expression is so limited when you pigeon hole yourself into one style or ideology and it also radicalises you into that style. Rather than being a moderate, it feels like society has gotten to the stage where we all need to pick a tribe and not ‘sell out’ from it which is very unhealthy imo as it means people feel like they can’t change their minds on things and must be 100% committed to a particular lifestyle. Changing your mind on things these days is equated heavily with being a sellout or having no integrity.
I usually don't use the whole "this feels dystopian" phrase a lot.... But this truly feels dystopian.
This was so refreshing. People definitely shouldn't feel pressured to post, I be out here postn away for fun and vibes, oh and staying hydrated.
Just realized how unintentionally i went against the grain with this "trends", or rather how much i despise capitalism. As soon i see anything i enjoy as a money making gig i will just abandon it without a second thought. Can't be bothered to even think about it, cause it just sucks all the joy out of it, gonna be bad at my hobbies forever and it's just fine, noone but me is gonna benefit from it. Same with social media, i will just post anything and everything, unfiltered, no career in politics or influencing for me, cause i will be put on blast day one 😅
I am a millennial but raised by baby boomer grandparents so I have a weird mix of millennial, Gen X, and Boomer interests (computer, ham radio, crocheting, D&D) and got anxiety about 15 years ago when the concept of personal brand was introduced (HBR is not good for mental health). There are a lot of people who comment who don’t actually buy into this concept. Worked through most of this time doing work for Social Services or Public Works depending on the year.
One thing I do want to note is that a lot of the culture you are reacting to is generally big city culture. A lot of small town culture Gen Z people still go to bars, do stupid things (like using a cattle prod to brand themselves) and shy away from the pull of the social media lifestyle.
Truly wishing your Gen (and mine) the best. But a lot of people do live their lives devoid of personal branding.
Younger people had so many traps that tripped you up. Even things like “hustle culture” mean different things to different ages. Hustle to me is learning to integrate my experiences into new approaches to my problems and not this idea of perfecting my image. Image is what it is and is fickle at best.
Personal brands are harmful in my opinion. It gets in the way of developing a personal internal dialogue that is beholden only to one’s values. Especially during the years when my income would fluctuate between 0$ and 100k (Currently making a wage somewhere between that now). Can’t even imagine how I would have reacted if I tied my self worth to products.
Chronically online (mainly because UA-cam functions as a radio talk show I listen to while doing at home projects (electrical, cleaning, or landscaping).
Crocheting has been around way longer than Boomers lolz.
@@oya-adjuasankofa7338 Didn’t say it was, just something my grandmother taught me as a child.
I enjoy being known of as little as possible, if my phone rings its a bad day😂😂
I appreciate you saying you have a private quiet hobby. I've always felt like, on display, growing up with the level of vigilance on what im doing, and the lack of genuine interest by authority figures to know my personal motive for something. I have a recent disability, and I used to run all the time. I don't now as much because of my pain and recently my brothers have picked up running. It has made me so jealous and stuff because of how much of a big deal THEY make it, and how i personally have NEVER wanted the amount of attention I feel forced to endure when just doing activities. Point is, I feel validated for wanting to just do something simply, for fun, just for me. Thanks
I agree completely. Just live!
Gen Z is cooked 💀
feels illegal to be this early
And they all have a course to sell
That bit about LinkedIn that flashed on the screen. All the sudden makes a lot of sense to me because I am how I am online and how I am offline and data flies to LinkedIn too lol which explains a lack of interaction. I get on there whenever I'm looking for a job 😅
After turning 26 and accepting how being so online wasn’t serving me in my mental and emotional growth, I took some weeks off to reassess my online relationship. I have to be for work and to some extent I want to be for pleasure. Figuring out how each of those manifest without group one intention for the other, I’ve been more happy to be apart of the online spear
I really felt this when I first wanted to write a blog. I didn’t want to make a business, promote a product, etc. I just wanted to share my experiences for anyone who would benefit from them. But every article, every how-to, and every tutorial id found was about SEO, monetization, and nothing about just writing quality content. I eventually found great writing advice but I had to really dig for it.
I hate the assumption that everything must be monetized
Until recently I worked in the 9-5 corporate world where this kind of stuff was being talked about 10 years ago. It was bullshit then and it's bullshit now.
I was so confused as to how someone could monetize running (outside of being an athlete) until I reached 9:55, wild to think abt how we can really monetize anything
I do agree we shall build our brands BUT don’t go public to advertise it. What I mean is you should be yourself, have your own ‘trend’, your style etc. I can tell majority of ‘personal brand to earn money online’ are fake. Majority of them don’t live like what we can see online. They built a ‘perfect lifestyle’ image so people follow them and want to live like them. It has a big impact on regular people especially for young people because they get depressed by thinking why I work so hard but can’t live like that, why my life sucks etc.
i never understood this. how about discover youre REAL identity and personality yknow????
I think there’s some kind of connection to depression and aniexty linked to this… doing this personally and for a company. A doctor I went to said they refer to it as social media heart when social media workers come in with chest pain. I left a job being a director of media because I had panic attacks and chest pain all the time. There’s something not right about it, and I think it is harmful.
Rlly good book just came out called "The Influencer Factory: A Marxist Theory of Corporate Personhood on UA-cam". Basically about this exact thing
Thanks for sharing, will def pick it up
i’ve been the centre of cyber bullying and targeted harassment constantly since i was very young, so this january i finally realised that social media isn’t for me and wanted to quit for my mental health. the tiktokers advising me to “create a personal brand” is lowkey scary lmaoooo
This resonated a lot with me.
I like playing the guitar, whether it is by myself or on stage, I like running long distances competitively, I used to like bodybuilding and MMA, but I don’t feel like a “runner”
or a “musician”, I didn’t feel like a fighter or “bodybuilder”/ “gym bro” whatever either because it’s first and foremost me, not some label. it’s the combination of MY INTERPRETATION of those interests that result in the person I am. If you slap a popular “brand” onto yourself, you erase your identity to become another cardboard copy of some trending concept.
Millennials and Gen Z seem to be allergic to true individuality, many boomers and Gen Xers complain about this, they say that back in the day you could tell people apart, not only by looks but especially by their opinion and stance on things. Now you have many people but only a small hand full of opinions and styles, and for once, I don’t go “ok boomer” because they actually have a point.
Im so glad u msde this video. I am really feeling this as im just finishing my first year in uni and figuring myself out thank u❤
I was definitely caught in this at one point. I've unplugged from all social media (except UA-cam and Reddit) for almost two years now, and it's been so good for my mental health. I'm living a happy, quiet life and rediscovering who I am without all of the noise. My circle/support system is smaller, but it's full of nothing but genuine love. Thanks for the video!
And I totally agree with the fact that personal brands can inhibit personal connections bc we automatically assume they won’t “match” or “fit” our brand/personality/vibe. I cannot count the amount of times I misjudged someone and we ended up being besties fr 😂 Assumptions and impressions are just that - not facts and they’re not final. As a generation I think we need to learn to have patience, curiosity, and give people a chance. A personal brand, if you choose to cultivate one, doesn’t have to be so restrictive
Oh my goodness I’m early!!! I’m glad you made this video because It takes a lot of work when it comes to being a content creator
I learned as a kid to only post big events that occur like graduations and weddings 😅 stuck by that wholeheartedly
This is a good rule of thumb! I wish more people were more mindful of what they put on the internet, and I wish more parents especially taught their children to be more mindful of what they put on the internet.
My personal brand is finding a damn job as a fresh college graduate
Sometimes I wonder: what about us, the people who dont want to “build our brands” or “become a content creator”? What about us, the people who are happy with our lives and our jobs outside of social media and just want to relax and consume the content we are interested in and maybe every once in a while post a selfie, but are met with a toxic environment that is making us sick and a new ad every 30 seconds?
I feel like the social media landscape today is hyperfocused on the creator and completely neglects the other side of the equation. So yeah no wonder more and more people are deciding to quit social media. Bc they are noticing that the cons are outweighing the pros!!
When social media started, it was all about socializing and people would post with the intention to share stuff with their circles. There was no pressure to go viral or make a career out if it. It was just for the fun of posting and thats what made it blew up! But slowly it became more about the numbers, and the followers, and engagement and now I feel like are constantly drowning in crappy content and advertisements, all while being shamelessly brainwashed and exploited by companies that want to keep us hooked for as long as possible, even if it means getting us sick!!!
I get it: social media changed the lives of so many creators and the financial incentives literally generated a modern gold rush, but eventually I feel like we are going to have all these creators and all these content but it be harder to get people to consume it. Because people are leaving the building!!
I honestly feel like social media companies should start looking at this matter ASAP. Bc think about: consumers ARE the majority. Every creator is also a consumer but not every consumer is a creator. Maybe its time to stop focusing solely on creators and start worrying about keeping the consumers interested and happy, instead of sick and miserable.
I prefer to live a more authentic life on and offline. It’s better for me mentally not feeling like I have to keep up or update everything I do/buy. I don’t even post often like how I did when I was younger trying to act like I’m just living this great money getting life. I love it that way.
You can also apply this to online dating. The personal brands of people on their dating profiles do not always translate to IRL relationships. Its easy for people to present themselves a certain way online.
Gen z and millenlialls arent brand obsessed. you guys just need to make content so you say that. no one can afford anything right now, influencers are not majority of the population.
Babe you work at starbucks you dont need a personal brand
😂😂😂 people are delusional
10/10 video! I appreciate your attention to detail and research
Amazing analysis. I love the way you speak about things. Btw you're so funny, whenever you'd laugh in the video, I'd laugh too lol. Hobbies should remain as something we are passionate of and gives us fulfillment in our lives. When we monetize it, we are giving it away to others and we tend to approach the hobby by putting more pressure on ourselves and stressing over how we can perfect it for other people's lenses. For some time, I did that with my writing and I realized how worse the quality got when I wrote the way I felt others would like to see and it didn't feel right, so I stopped. Thank you for your knowledge Imurgency 👌🏻:)
the whole surveillance thing sucks so much cause before if you did something kinda dumb or silly at a party etc, people would just maybe talk about it. But nowadays there's an actual risk of someone filming you do that AND posting it for the world to see. I especially wish that filming people wasn't so normalized
My university is so obsessed with this concept- even more than I see online. In my final year of Graphic Design at one of my countries' top universities, all I hear is lecturers recommending us to specialise, have a look/ feel, present ourselves in a certain way so that employers can easily see if we would be a good fit in their company.
I wonder if part of this phenomenon is due to social media & the rise of the global culture, but maybe also because Gen Z is getting older and trying to work out where they fit not only in the world but also in the workspace?
This is why I haven’t posted ANYTHING on social media for 4 years (if you don’t include UA-cam & reddit). It became like a stressful job rather something I enjoyed. However, I do post occasionally on insta’s stories if it’s something important like protest locations or food drives & general activism IRL for ppl who might not know
The personal brand thing makes me so mad. Went to college and got a cert in media marketing. Hate it. Gotten to the point where you’re expected to have a personal brand for any job.
It’s so sad to see ‘branding’ be viewed as a full time situation. I take my “brand” to mean how I talk to people and how I work through problems, not styles
I am an older millennial, and I feel like I've always been really bad at creating a succinct brand online. I actually feel it's interfered with my success at work or My success at any sort of side hustle because I just post whatever happened that week so often. I work with you, and sometimes interacting with the public, and like you probably know many jobs want your entire life to be reflection of their brands. And that's just not something I've ever been able to do for them. I do think that I have had some issues with first impressions and what people think I stand for versus what I actually care about, and ironically social media has been good for my psyche in that way l. I just really don't like how integrated into work life it has become. How is anyone supposed to be authentically themselves, or able to use these sites for their own benefit if there's so many high stakes viewers. I do find often that I just go long periods of time without posting it all, because I'm nervous what will happen when I post what I want and speak my mind.
okay non influencer bestie!! that was such a fun tidbit to include, loved that
About the hobbies, I had to relax and eventually found freedom when I allow myself to just try things and let them go when I was no longer interested as opposed to trying to stick to something just so that I could learn how to monetize it. I.e. pottery or creating resin jewelry.
I have been self branding and even got paid buy facebook in the first round of Reels starting on facebook …. It’s a hobby more then a self brand
Why be yourself? With just a few little tweaks you too can market yourself like a commodity... It's alright, it's not shallow or superficial at all, everyone's doing it now. 😢
Haven't begun yet (just seen the pre-intro) but GOD. My younger friends in the creator space,,,, whew. Guys,,,, I have a stage name for a REASON; me and my Stage Self are not the same. I'm me, that's a persona.
My friend complains all the time that I use different usernames, they're not easy to remember, I don't make consistent videos/art (as in style or content), etc etc etc, but WHEW. I'm not doing things to please algorithm. I'm doing it to please me. I don't want anyone to think of me as this, or that, or whatever. I am a human being. I can separate myself into my online self and my offline self, and I encourage my audience to do that too, even in a "have a private self that's just for you and your close people" way.
Very interesting video and ur right Americans especially in big cities like la and nyc are thirsty for cloud and is trying to monetize they life styles Imao some people are lame for this
All this "branding oneself" is just a prison that doesn't allow for organic growth.
Commodifying your personality is crazy.
Life in the corporate AI. This is why punk rock exists.
Paying to watch other people have a life rather than having a life of your own is probably why some many young people are on anti-depressants.
Love your videos ❤
i think south park had an episode like this lol
I love your laugh! And I graduated 2 years ago, too! Not my twinnnn 😂
You are so eloquent!!
I first noticed this brand obsession in late 70s- early 80s with the designer jeans craze and it never stopped I never cared saved money not buying into the hype.
Please could you share the link to Michelle Beaver's dissertation: what's in your space?
please review heartbreak high s2!!
coming up nexttt
Successful personal brands are the ones that coincide with personality.
13:25 that is SOOO sad lol us older millennials made our entire late teens and early/mid 20’s posting pictures of our random drunken nights out the next day on fb as a means to purposely embarrass, spark laughter and re-create the night we were too drunk to remember. the fact that people are scared about this now and that people devalue authenticity is REALLY sad lol
As an middle Millenial I can't really go with it? I mean ok I do have like 2 shirts with some odd brand on them but that was given to me 2nd hand...and I mainly sleep and lounge around in them. I myself couldn't care less about having any "I have a big name so my prices are insane" on my breast or stomach.
Actually my very Millenial ( she never grew up) is mroe the T-SHIRTS that say true & fun stuff 😂 😂
Like a pissed of Cat and below it, it's written "Good Morning!" "You're walking on (very) thin ice!" 😂 😂
BLOOD AND WATER S4!
Interesting but would you say this applies to said generations beyond North America or is only contained there
just be a nice and compassionate person who lives to enjoy life
Why does no one ever bring up how some ppl r disabled and can’t work regular jobs so they get really good at their craft for money 🤷🏻♀️
I'm just starting the video, so there's a good chance you mention it, but I recommend Naomi Klein's book Doppelganger which has a section on creating your digital double and personal branding.
GenZ not being absolutely cooked, challenge impossible. I saw another video critiquing both GenX and Millennials and the scariest thing I've heard for why GenZ is going down the roads it is while GenX and Millennials obviously raised GenZ, we basically wrote the rules for GenZ.
Now im not talking about the parents that raised them, im talking about the industries they are being raised up that are held by those older generations. While GeX and Millennials had their share of issues, a lot of them were lived experiences and not this almost eldritch being that the internet has morphed into. So now GenZ experiences life basically through proxy, hell lets not forget that during covid, the world basically stopped for two years and only lived on the internet....that surely won't have an impact on those same children we call names like "ipad children"
This video is DEEP
Hope you keep enjoying running without injuries! 👏👏
That video about how to behave while clubbing seems to assume that you get "invited into the space" to be as boring as possible.
I know people love to blame social media for all our problems, but I really see this is an issue of rampant capitalism. People wouldn't need to "brand" their personality if they didn't need the money and fame to find validation. So much of our society has quickly become all about making and flaunting money in order to prove one's "worth". Social media is just a tool for them to do it on. Tech is notoriously under regulated and (at least in the US) our aging representatives often do not understand it let alone how to regulate it. Now we've got a society where for a lot of young people the most likely way to find success is to try to be an influencer or a finance bro or run some kind of scheme selling courses to other desperate people. Hell, I get ads for these scammy courses and pyramid schemes on youtube all the time! Where are the ethics? UA-cam juts wants more money, so they take the ad money from these scammers and perpetuate the problem. And that's just one example. It's EVERYWHERE! Look at all the scams on tiktok shop! Everything is about the hustle.
@14:12 cracked me up so much 😂😂
I’m sorry I’m still struggling to see the difference between a personal ‘Brand’ and your personality/interest. These poor people are so online it’s sad.
I guess I’m very grateful to not relate to any of this… I have never heard of this or understand it much but it was interesting to learn about.
Wow the generation of always labeling themselves wants to continue to pigeonhole themselves, SHOCKER.
Yeah, I don't need a brand. I'm not a purse.
yeah it kinda blows my mind that regular people who aren't social media figures, ceos, entertainers, politicians or other public figures whose livelihood may partially or completely depend on their personal brand feel the need to have a personal brand lol.
Does _everybody_ have to have a “brand”???😒😒😒 If we _all_ have a “brand”, then *NONE* of us have one!
The only "brand" I've ever been concerned with is improving myself and basically go anti-capitalism as much as I can.
fren pls talk abt szn 2 of heartbreak high
So technically personal brand is a legitimized way to do masking.
Masking fucks people up, so this pers brand does it too
😢