Recently I watched a video on YouTube, in which a woman talks for 12 mins essentially about how her life, is anything but in order. You can watch it here – it’s called ‘I’m a 33-year-old woman with no life’. To provide some context, The Youtuber featured is divorced and currently job searching. And although she explains she has the social support of friends, this is something that perhaps would have surprised her younger self, who expected her to be happily in love and professionally thriving at her now age (33.) I’m sure many can relate to this feeling. Many women, in particular, often put a timeline on certain experiences or key moments they want to happen in their lives – i.e. having a baby at 26, owning a house by 35, etc. But you know what they say about plans we make. God laughs. Very loudly.

Although only about two months old, the video has blown up – receiving over a million views in that short amount of time. So, a natural question for me, as a self-proclaimed curiosity queen, once I saw the views it was racking up was ‘why?’. Two obvious answers you may come to:

1. Why not? It’s good/interesting content that naturally attracts people over time.
2. Maybe it’s more of a schauenfraude situation where people watch to gain comfort from the YouTuber’s misery. (I.e. ‘Thank God, I’m not her – my life sounds much better.’)

I did of course consider the above but both were quickly dispelled when I read through the comments on the hunt for an answer to my question – why was this video becoming so popular?

I was quite surprised to see that so many people resonated personally with the video. Many felt that they had fallen short of their own expectations – particularly female commenters and were just relieved to have their insecurities or perceived sense of stagnation mirrored back to them.

There was something about this YouTuber’s story that simply resonated with viewers even if it was only a chunk of the story and not it’s whole. And perhaps, her straightforward honesty and approach were refreshing on a platform where everyone feels they have to be scripted, overly bubbly or dramatic. They’re extremes that have worked for content on YouTube for a while, and to some extent still do. However, as the rise of this video shows, there seems to be a growing desire for authentic content. Where creators are more forthcoming about their flaws and instead of presenting themselves as experts that viewers must go to – perhaps creating more of a community. This may simply mean instead of having a video that gives ‘expert’ advice, you admit you don’t know and ask people for their advice on the topic.

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