APRIL 21, 2008

The Other Side Of YouTube

By now, everyone has watched some sort of video on YouTube.  Many of these videos are funny clips forwarded around by friends that provide a quick distraction from whatever else it is we happen to be doing at the time. 

According to YouTube, the purpose of the website is:

[to] see first-hand accounts of current events, find videos about their hobbies and interests, and discover the quirky and unusual. As more people capture special moments on video, YouTube is empowering them to become the broadcasters of tomorrow.

I don’t think the founders of YouTube ever thought that it would become an outlet for teens to show off their malicious behavior or bitter wives to trash their husbands as part of divorce battles.

New York socialite Tricia Walsh Smith is using the site to trash her husband in their ongoing divorce battle by trashing his kids, his behavior in the bedroom and all around character. You have to see it to believe it.

Dr. Keith Ablow, a forensic psychiatrist, told “TODAY”s Meredith Vieira, “We’re at a critical moment where people are turning to public broadcasts to express private thoughts. But I don’t think it’s connecting people necessarily. I think it’s disconnecting them from their own life stories.”

In case you missed it, a couple weeks ago several teens lured another teen into a house for the express purpose of beating her up, filming it, and then posting the video on YouTube.  Local authorities intervened before the tape was posted and the girls are now in jail.  You have to wonder why these girls thought they would be able to post violence on such a public forum and get away with it.

One last example of using YouTube for personal “gain” involves the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team. The Sporting News Blog reports that fans sitting in the $2 cheap seats were getting drunk and causing fights, again for the purpose of posting videos of these fights on You Tube.  The Blue Jays management has since banned beer from being sold in these cheap seats.

With the advances in technology today, it is easier than ever for people to communicate and get their 15 minutes of fame. However, the negative side of these advances is becoming all too clear, which brings up the question: should sites like YouTube should be regulated? And, if so, how much?

One of the lawyers in the Walsh Smith case summarizes the issue by saying:

“Where does it end? Over the last few years, we’ve had to deal with e-mails getting into the press, e-mails that nobody thought would end up as Exhibit A. But throwing your secrets onto YouTube for the whole world to see — and comment on! That brings it to a whole new level.  There’s no such thing as a private life anymore.”