My experience with YouTube prior to this project was limited to watching videos sent to me via e-mail or ones that appeared in my News Feed on Facebook. While I vowed to investigate YouTube further, it just did not happen. I had every intention of exploring it more thoroughly; I set up an account and set aside some time at the beginning of the course to play around on YouTube. Then, I got wrapped up in course readings, preparing my seminar and other more domestic responsibilities and I never managed to log back on to YouTube. I still watch videos that people send me or that pop up on Facebook but I have not managed to expand my experience beyond that. I have not spent the time required to really learn how people use it and why.
In the limited way I have been exposed to YouTube, I have noticed that the majority of videos I watch are “funny” or “amazing” things that people send me. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, I seem to watch a lot of home videos of people’s kids. Right now, that is just the nature of what I am interested in. The people I spend most of my social time with are other mothers with kids the same age as mine and I naturally have an interest in what their children are doing. I find myself comparing my son to these other children developmentally and also catching a glimpse into what my future holds as he learns what these other babies are doing. Personally, YouTube as served as a means for entertainment or as a way of tracking my son’s development. Now I know thatYouTube has far more affordances than providing me with entertainment and keeping track of what “tricks” my son should be learning, however, with my limited personal experience this is what YouTube has been for me.
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