I just deleted all social media (except yt if that counts) last week and realized that im 31, got my first phone at 13, and have spent that many years wasted doing nothing on a black piece of glass that has nothing even real on it.
It's conflicting seeing how the internet vastly improved every aspect of my own life that probably would have ended early before reaching 20 without it, but the damage it's done to the rest of the world is dystopian.
This feeling you described is something I’ve been feeling ever since Covid began. Along with depression and also a form of derealization, I sometimes stop at a moment and just think about my existence, and how it feels like I’m barely here. I never really thought about the fact that we’re drinking the idea of water, rather than water itself, but it makes so much sense considering this lingering feeling of lacking something, something missing in existence. I recently deleted my whole instagram account, I notice I’ve begun to feel this fear that without an account to show people, they won’t think I’m cool from looking through my carefully curated profile, an image that I want to make of myself. It’s so odd how letting go of this fake version of me feels, but I think it reveals that I really gotta work on my own self worth and sense of self with the REAL me, instead of the digital one. Thanks for this video! Earned a subscribe
I took about a 3 year break from socials, popped in and immediately deleted again. It was all ads and the same 3 celebrities I don’t care for.. great vid!!
Btw it seems like you’re on the same page as Byung Chul Han. Idk if you’ve read him, but he puts these problems into words brilliantly. All his books. Especially works like “the disappearance of rituals” and “the scent of time”.
I absolutely love the way you present the different issues in present and past society, taking the simple perspective of grandparents/us in our 20s or 30s. The script is incredible!!!! Hope this gets to a million views and more!! God bless
You nailed it with this notion that the real world is being displaced into a fake online reality, which is seen as real. Reminds me of Guy Debord's idea of the spectacle: ''The alienation of the spectator to the profit of the contemplated object (which is the result of his own unconscious activity) is expressed in the following way: the more he contemplates the less he lives; the more he accepts recognizing himself in the dominant images of need, the less he understands his own existence and his own desires. The externality of the spectacle in relation to the active man appears in that his own gestures are no longer his but those of another who represents them to him. This is why the spectator does not feel at home anywhere, because the spectacle is everywhere.''
What you're talking about is alienation and it's been a growing problem at least since the days of the telegraph. With every generation, more of our lives and our reality becomes virtual, and we go further down this transcendental rabbit hole where our lives get curiouser and curiouser. For my generation, Gen X, the screens our parents worried we spent too much time with were TV screens. Now it's iPads. I'm disabled and my own world is entirely lived in the world inside my PC and it's terrible for my mental health. We need to ground ourselves in reality in order to anchor ourselves and without that we can get lost in the funhouse echo chamber of our own minds. I don't know how to fix that. Screens are addictive. Especially when you've lost all ability to handle reality.
Amazing video, different problems lead to different issues in society. The great depression definetly had a mental impact in a more straighforward way, and yes in some cases I will agree things were harder then (abandoned children, lost jobs, which definetly affected everyone mentally) but now it's a more psychological aspect, a slower burn, human connections were stronger then which as a herd species does keep sanity in place. But if you empathetically compare the two times, I would still say the older times would have a harder impact on people, and im completely lost on how they overcame it.
Infinite stimulation definitely blunts and chips away at your humanity. Your essence gets siphoned off into the ether. I agree with your assessment that the solution is to get back in the drivers seat. The problem is this Tech and media has a gravitational pull. Perpetually tugging and yanking at you, to slide you back in the passenger seat. Many will relapse and some will fall completely off the wagon. And this is only among those that try to resist. Are we the minority. This is causing a great polarization. There are those who aren’t able to resist and become shadows of what they could’ve been. Technology is the best slave, and the worst master. And are those who will be able to truly live, self-actualize, and fulfill our humanity. Those who master this media age will be able to leverage tech to help them
@@SSX1799 This is a super well-written thought. Describing technology as having its own gravity is really well-put. We have grown to orbit it, and like gravity, we often aren’t in control of how it affects us. We’ve got to take control where we can!
Really well said, I completely agree that if we leverage tech well anyone can be unstoppable, that's what it was meant for anyway. As an engineering student I see it everyday, GPT has a stronger grasp on students every semester, some have grown completely dependent on it. Which completely takes away the curiosity and learning from them, reminds me of WALL-E with the completely dependant passengers. Although I don't expect an AI uprising, if the engineers of tomorrow aren't learning, then how will we make new things? Or is AI supposed to surpass us all and begin research on its own. (So far, AI is still quite stupid though)
As someone who doesn't have the same sort of relationship with technology and social media (but is from the same generation), it's even spilling over to other people. I frequently get asked if I see things that happened on facebook or if I took a look at some tik tok someone told me about, but I don't have those things, and it gives them a moment of pause while they process that I'm not 'like them' in that way.
This video and your latest one before ... They really speak to me. I struggled to put it in words how I felt, this sums it up perfectly. This really helped me. Thank you ❤️
Yes and its a good thing. I've been walking over Europe for almost one year now, visited countless villages accross the Balkans and Turkey. People who are not in the digital world just stay the whole evening drinking bad coffee in an undecorated room. In the Balkans sometimes I saw people sitting together outside doing NOTHING. Not even talking to each other, not even scrolling on their phones, just gazing at the horizon. When I reach a bigger town now, if my time and energy permits it, I go to the gaming café play League of Legends with my friend back home. League of Legends is just my undecorated room where I meet my friend to drink bad coffee. But its way more fun ! And no matter the distance we can do it ! World of Warcraft is but a giant English pub except you actually have things to do in it, with the added bonus of not destroying your liver with alcohol. What I've learned during my travel is that life before the digital world was BORING TO DEATH. Its a 100 times better now, people who say otherwise just dont know how lucky they are.
No dude I am old and I totally get why u would be unhappy. Same reason I am. I'm just a little creakier. The world is in an unhealthy mess as no one is allowed to be imperfect. Nvm trying to make a living. It's toxic and oppressive. And we've been literally forced to become physically distant, making it even worse.
I am sorry if i am asking for too mich, but your audio in the "childhood brain" video was the best, calming yet clear and perfect for senstive people like me, all videos acter those seems to be louder snd more attacked at my sensces, your thoughts are still valuable but still please if you could, revert to what you did in the earlier video's audio please
What a relatable video. I agreed 100%. But i don't struggle because of those feelings anymore. I starter to do sports everyday and i don't feel need to be a part of a group or talking to someone. I just feel alright after i exercise. But before that i really was a problem. I desperately wanted to have friends or people to talk to irl. It was a real anxiety and some days it's just leveled up and started to eat me from isnide. Doesn't matter anymore. I am alone and i am alright. Also, i almost never used social media too often, because i felt like there's something wrong with thag. If i wanna talk to someone, it'll be irl. Not that kind of relationship when you can't just touch or see the human. Now i use it even less - there's just not enough time for that.
What if this "inhuman" feeling has been felt by every generation growing up. And we are only special in that we have the Internet to blame instead of accepting that feeling as a part of ourselves?
Hey Reed, I've been watching your videos for about a week now, and I'm curious about that 2022 timestamp up in the corner of some of your recordings. It's 2025, did you record these videos in 2022 and wait until now to post them?
This is a very good question. I film these on a cheap camcorder I bought, and even if I change the time and date on the camcorder, it just resets every time I turn it off. So I just leave it. lol. I filmed this video two days ago. I could just crop the timestamp out, but for some reason I kind of like it. Hahaha.
Great video, its gonna be a real shame once this channel gets big and I’ll have to pretend you don make videos like this anymore cause youre too mainstream
It’s honestly just trauma and can be easily solved w dedicated effort assuming you can flow w life outside of genuine survival situation. Only thing not “real” is living in trauma brain experience and narrative. Thinking you need to stop playing video games or be on social media less or whatever is complete and total nonsense, time to adapt
Just my little silly intro shtick I do. I always say "What's up everybody it's __________ AKA Reid from Shameless Nerd," and fill in the blank with something that of course could never be an alias or nickname. Just being silly
This explains A LOT why I feel so overwhelmed by how big the world looks now and how small it makes me feel. I was born in 2002 and only had actual frequent contact with the internet when I was 14. I miss feeling grounded and present, nowadays I feel so stressed about how I'm not being seen online (I don't really post about my life on social media very often), as if it determines if I exist or not. I also only use TH-cam nowadays, and my next step is to stop commenting and interacting digitally with other people for a while. Sometimes people just suck and are so mean, not having their identity exposed really gives freedom to their bad side to just hurt others, and I don't want to involve myself in this anymore. Your video was very clarifying to a problem I was struggling with for the past years, thank you for your work 🩷
I just deleted all social media (except yt if that counts) last week and realized that im 31, got my first phone at 13, and have spent that many years wasted doing nothing on a black piece of glass that has nothing even real on it.
It's conflicting seeing how the internet vastly improved every aspect of my own life that probably would have ended early before reaching 20 without it, but the damage it's done to the rest of the world is dystopian.
This feeling you described is something I’ve been feeling ever since Covid began. Along with depression and also a form of derealization, I sometimes stop at a moment and just think about my existence, and how it feels like I’m barely here. I never really thought about the fact that we’re drinking the idea of water, rather than water itself, but it makes so much sense considering this lingering feeling of lacking something, something missing in existence. I recently deleted my whole instagram account, I notice I’ve begun to feel this fear that without an account to show people, they won’t think I’m cool from looking through my carefully curated profile, an image that I want to make of myself. It’s so odd how letting go of this fake version of me feels, but I think it reveals that I really gotta work on my own self worth and sense of self with the REAL me, instead of the digital one. Thanks for this video! Earned a subscribe
I took about a 3 year break from socials, popped in and immediately deleted again. It was all ads and the same 3 celebrities I don’t care for.. great vid!!
Btw it seems like you’re on the same page as Byung Chul Han. Idk if you’ve read him, but he puts these problems into words brilliantly. All his books. Especially works like “the disappearance of rituals” and “the scent of time”.
@@SSX1799 I have not-I’ll definitely check him out!
I absolutely love the way you present the different issues in present and past society, taking the simple perspective of grandparents/us in our 20s or 30s. The script is incredible!!!! Hope this gets to a million views and more!! God bless
You nailed it with this notion that the real world is being displaced into a fake online reality, which is seen as real. Reminds me of Guy Debord's idea of the spectacle:
''The alienation of the spectator to the profit of the contemplated object (which is the result of his own unconscious activity) is expressed in the following way: the more he contemplates the less he lives; the more he accepts recognizing himself in the dominant images of need, the less he understands his own existence and his own desires. The externality of the spectacle in relation to the active man appears in that his own gestures are no longer his but those of another who represents them to him. This is why the spectator does not feel at home anywhere, because the spectacle is everywhere.''
Perfect timing with this video that sums up everything that I've been feeling. Keep up the good work!
Just leaving a comment to boost this in the algorithm and say I love your authenticity and perspective. Awesome video :)
@@JoeArd Very sweet! Thank you :)
Very good video! You explained your points well, I hope more people get to see this!!
gods, finding your channel was the best thing this new year!!! love your videos : ]
What you're talking about is alienation and it's been a growing problem at least since the days of the telegraph. With every generation, more of our lives and our reality becomes virtual, and we go further down this transcendental rabbit hole where our lives get curiouser and curiouser. For my generation, Gen X, the screens our parents worried we spent too much time with were TV screens. Now it's iPads. I'm disabled and my own world is entirely lived in the world inside my PC and it's terrible for my mental health. We need to ground ourselves in reality in order to anchor ourselves and without that we can get lost in the funhouse echo chamber of our own minds.
I don't know how to fix that.
Screens are addictive.
Especially when you've lost all ability to handle reality.
Amazing video, different problems lead to different issues in society. The great depression definetly had a mental impact in a more straighforward way, and yes in some cases I will agree things were harder then (abandoned children, lost jobs, which definetly affected everyone mentally) but now it's a more psychological aspect, a slower burn, human connections were stronger then which as a herd species does keep sanity in place.
But if you empathetically compare the two times, I would still say the older times would have a harder impact on people, and im completely lost on how they overcame it.
Infinite stimulation definitely blunts and chips away at your humanity. Your essence gets siphoned off into the ether.
I agree with your assessment that the solution is to get back in the drivers seat. The problem is this Tech and media has a gravitational pull. Perpetually tugging and yanking at you, to slide you back in the passenger seat. Many will relapse and some will fall completely off the wagon. And this is only among those that try to resist. Are we the minority.
This is causing a great polarization. There are those who aren’t able to resist and become shadows of what they could’ve been. Technology is the best slave, and the worst master. And are those who will be able to truly live, self-actualize, and fulfill our humanity. Those who master this media age will be able to leverage tech to help them
@@SSX1799 This is a super well-written thought. Describing technology as having its own gravity is really well-put. We have grown to orbit it, and like gravity, we often aren’t in control of how it affects us. We’ve got to take control where we can!
Well said
Really well said, I completely agree that if we leverage tech well anyone can be unstoppable, that's what it was meant for anyway. As an engineering student I see it everyday, GPT has a stronger grasp on students every semester, some have grown completely dependent on it. Which completely takes away the curiosity and learning from them, reminds me of WALL-E with the completely dependant passengers.
Although I don't expect an AI uprising, if the engineers of tomorrow aren't learning, then how will we make new things? Or is AI supposed to surpass us all and begin research on its own. (So far, AI is still quite stupid though)
As someone who doesn't have the same sort of relationship with technology and social media (but is from the same generation), it's even spilling over to other people. I frequently get asked if I see things that happened on facebook or if I took a look at some tik tok someone told me about, but I don't have those things, and it gives them a moment of pause while they process that I'm not 'like them' in that way.
This video and your latest one before ... They really speak to me. I struggled to put it in words how I felt, this sums it up perfectly. This really helped me. Thank you ❤️
I’m glad to hear it!! I love the idea I could be helping someone out there :)
Hoping the algorithm favors you because this is a wakeup call
This video found me at the absolute perfect time.
Honestly same this guy says coherently what Im fealing but cant put to words
Yes and its a good thing. I've been walking over Europe for almost one year now, visited countless villages accross the Balkans and Turkey. People who are not in the digital world just stay the whole evening drinking bad coffee in an undecorated room. In the Balkans sometimes I saw people sitting together outside doing NOTHING. Not even talking to each other, not even scrolling on their phones, just gazing at the horizon. When I reach a bigger town now, if my time and energy permits it, I go to the gaming café play League of Legends with my friend back home. League of Legends is just my undecorated room where I meet my friend to drink bad coffee. But its way more fun ! And no matter the distance we can do it ! World of Warcraft is but a giant English pub except you actually have things to do in it, with the added bonus of not destroying your liver with alcohol. What I've learned during my travel is that life before the digital world was BORING TO DEATH. Its a 100 times better now, people who say otherwise just dont know how lucky they are.
I miss pre 2010's.
No dude I am old and I totally get why u would be unhappy. Same reason I am. I'm just a little creakier. The world is in an unhealthy mess as no one is allowed to be imperfect. Nvm trying to make a living. It's toxic and oppressive. And we've been literally forced to become physically distant, making it even worse.
I resemble this remark.
I agree.
Just subbed. Hope you blow up bro. You deserve it. Great content. Keep em comin!
I am sorry if i am asking for too mich, but your audio in the "childhood brain" video was the best, calming yet clear and perfect for senstive people like me, all videos acter those seems to be louder snd more attacked at my sensces, your thoughts are still valuable but still please if you could, revert to what you did in the earlier video's audio please
@@Amitkbe Noted! Thank you!
Perfectly said. Great video, wow.
I just like the blinking sparkly lights of phone.
The timing is crazy😭
Amazing video btw🙏🏽
I think the idea of romance and love is a big problem. Our parents and ourselves had Disney shoving it in our faces.
What a relatable video. I agreed 100%.
But i don't struggle because of those feelings anymore. I starter to do sports everyday and i don't feel need to be a part of a group or talking to someone. I just feel alright after i exercise.
But before that i really was a problem. I desperately wanted to have friends or people to talk to irl. It was a real anxiety and some days it's just leveled up and started to eat me from isnide.
Doesn't matter anymore. I am alone and i am alright.
Also, i almost never used social media too often, because i felt like there's something wrong with thag. If i wanna talk to someone, it'll be irl. Not that kind of relationship when you can't just touch or see the human.
Now i use it even less - there's just not enough time for that.
What if this "inhuman" feeling has been felt by every generation growing up. And we are only special in that we have the Internet to blame instead of accepting that feeling as a part of ourselves?
"We are drinking the idea of water" ... well that goes deep
new favorite youtuber. a kindred spirit perhaps.
Guess I've found the answer for this whole not feeling like a human thing, well done
Bro's defining Cyberpsychosis
The innovation. I'm tired of it.
I love your content, the authentic and healing words that you are spreading deserve recognition. Thank you!
Thank you!! This is very nice. Glad it has meant something to you!
It’s purposelessness combined with hyper self awareness and pseudo omniscience
Beautiful video, you deserve more views
I love the feeling of being an ordinary, every-day professor...hippie
I hear you
Reed is what I need.
I thought I was having a stroke at the beginning
Hahahhaaha that was the goal. MAKE EM FEEL SOMETHING. lol
Hey Reed, I've been watching your videos for about a week now, and I'm curious about that 2022 timestamp up in the corner of some of your recordings. It's 2025, did you record these videos in 2022 and wait until now to post them?
This is a very good question. I film these on a cheap camcorder I bought, and even if I change the time and date on the camcorder, it just resets every time I turn it off. So I just leave it. lol. I filmed this video two days ago. I could just crop the timestamp out, but for some reason I kind of like it. Hahaha.
@@shamelessnerd thanks! It doesn't detract from the video at all, I was only wondering if it was intentional
Social media addiction symptoms
Great video, its gonna be a real shame once this channel gets big and I’ll have to pretend you don make videos like this anymore cause youre too mainstream
It’s honestly just trauma and can be easily solved w dedicated effort assuming you can flow w life outside of genuine survival situation. Only thing not “real” is living in trauma brain experience and narrative. Thinking you need to stop playing video games or be on social media less or whatever is complete and total nonsense, time to adapt
Are you... me?
Your intro gave me an aneurysm
thanks man
Hyperreality?
what's up with the intro 🤨
Just my little silly intro shtick I do. I always say "What's up everybody it's __________ AKA Reid from Shameless Nerd," and fill in the blank with something that of course could never be an alias or nickname. Just being silly
Smartest guy on youtube since Whatifalthist
@@iissssaac This is extremely nice (and no WAY lol). Thank you so much :)
is wiah that smart tho
@@Bloo2314He’s smart, just mentally ill and regurgitates everything on his reading list.
Watch this video on 1,5x speed
Thank me later
9:55 - Challenge accepted >:)
this generation is so lain core
rap god xS
W vid
This explains A LOT why I feel so overwhelmed by how big the world looks now and how small it makes me feel. I was born in 2002 and only had actual frequent contact with the internet when I was 14. I miss feeling grounded and present, nowadays I feel so stressed about how I'm not being seen online (I don't really post about my life on social media very often), as if it determines if I exist or not. I also only use TH-cam nowadays, and my next step is to stop commenting and interacting digitally with other people for a while. Sometimes people just suck and are so mean, not having their identity exposed really gives freedom to their bad side to just hurt others, and I don't want to involve myself in this anymore. Your video was very clarifying to a problem I was struggling with for the past years, thank you for your work 🩷
ok it was interesting until that horrible motivational music started 🫠
I think the idea of romance and love is a big problem. Our parents and ourselves had Disney shoving it in our faces.
I don’t think it helps that bookstores and social media are suffocating novels with poorly written smut designed at romance books.