OK I need to stan this kids youtube I just found because I am in awe of his power level
this child is like ten years old and he has like ten times as many youtube videos as me. here he is repairing a vacuum cleaner.
he doesn't know the right name for anything. he has no tripod, and had to build one himself, but he delivers an *excellent* instructional video given the constraints he's working under.
Here he swaps out the ballast on a streetlight, DID I MENTION HE COLLECTS FUCKING STREETLIGHTS, for a different power rating
he trash-picks vacuum cleaners and repairs them, he collects and modifies streetlights, he loves sodium lamps, honestly this kid is me at his age if I had had any goddamn gumption or a place to show off.
to elucidate, my parents were a bizarre kind of unsupportive. It's like, they absolutely provided me the tools and environment to learn things, but then didn't seem to give a shit if I did, and never praised me on anything. I got zero feedback on my accomplishments.
I grew up in a house full of tools and instruments. we had a little bit of everything, and my parents made me participate in enough stuff that I knew how everything worked, but they never really went any further than that
my mother was a machinist. we got a milling machine and a lathe and I was never shown how to operate them. I mean, I knew, because I watched, and they explained, but they never said "ok let's show you how to make a screw, put your hands on the controls"
They never had me do anything, and when I did do anything they never seemed to care or encourage me to do more. I say this is bizarre because I know my parents didn't WANT to be like that, but they were just too self-centered to realize they were neglecting me I think.
My mother also did leatherworking. One time I took it upon myself to get some leather and make something with it, and she did help me, but I had to like... ask? And when I walked away she made no attempt to encourage me to continue.
Per the video I linked, this kid says he had to build his own tripod. Does that mean his parents aren't supportive of him either? That's really shitty if so. Christ, if a person actually wants to DO THINGS at that age you should STARVE YOURSELF to give them the supplies they need
you can get a tripod at any thrift store for $5 or a new one for $30, so either he didn't ask ( :/ ) or they didn't help. that's shitty. fuck. at that age all I would do is stare at the fucking computer all day and i KNOW I would have done more if my parents had supported me.
Contrary position: kid gets stuff shipped to him? Which must cost quite a bit? Parents must be paying for it. Idk what the deal is. I'm not going to engage and find out.
anyway here's the thing, kid has over 400 subscribers and because he's hitting topics that have extremely intense fanbases (vacuum cleaners in particular) he actually gets verbose comments. when i was 12, this kind of engagement would have transformed me 
not every video gets paragraphs of responses but i mean FUCK, when I was 12 I was posting on lj and the most i ever got was a few words. "hehe same"
i would have KILLED for engagement. i didn't have any friends but friends aren't what i wanted, i wanted an audience. my ultimate desires from age 12 to 30 have not changed. I never feel satisfied with my accomplishments and I want constant validation.
I was wrong about things at the time but peers would have straightened my shit out quicker imo. social media and youtube have problems but fuck, i had NO ACCESS TO SOCIETY AT ALL FOR A DECADE
not only that but a lot of niche interests simply don't have local communities. most of the people i know who are into retroelectronics for instance are scattered across the nation. without the internet I would have very few people to show weird electronics to.
i can tell you that without the internet, if I was into repairing vacuum cleaners I would currently have zero people to talk to about it. i could do it for 18 years and still have nobody to talk to about it.
as much as we talk shit about social media, youtube has enabled this kid in who knows where to get engagement on his interests from people in who knows where in ways that would be literally impossible in any other way. *literally* impossible.
what else could he *possibly* do, especially at that age? at ANY age? how would you find people like that now? and would you want to be actual friends with them? in a lot of cases probably not.
like, i'm not personal friends with many people who give feedback on stuff I post about. i couldn't maintain that many relationships but also I just don't have a lot in common or much to say to a ton of people I am parasocially acquainted with.
These modern forms of socializing allow these micro-relationships; people can know each other solely within the boundaries of a specific topic. that's very important to me.
anyway with all this commentary i just want to reiterate that if you have kids (yeah, i know, i know, but still, if you do) i believe you are morally obligated to starve yourself if that's what it takes to provide for their interests, no matter how unimportant you think they are.
