Logan Paul and Aokigahara Forest

The truth is that before yesterday I didn't even know who Logan Paul was.

I watch a lot of Youtube, mainly makeup tutorials. And what can I say, its my guilty pleasure. I never watch the likes of Logan Paul because I honestly have no interest. While I know it doesn't take much skill to make the videos I watch, the videos created by the likes of Logan Paul, Alfie Deyes and Joe Sugg are utterly pointless crap. I avoid all videos speculating how much they make because, frankly, I feel enough shame knowing Nikkietutorials makes a few quid every time I watch her put highlight on. I don't need to cause myself more distress by researching how much Alfie Deyes makes for being a moron.

The Wired have described yesterday's incident as 'a reckoning for youtube', and I couldn't agree more. As a regular Youtube watcher I am now torn about why I enjoy it, and I think it is heading the same way as Tumblr.

Tumblr is essentially the lazy person's blog; you have a dashboard that comes up with posts which you repost to your own blog- easy peasy. What Tumblr became for many people, such as myself, was a platform to express and compete about who was the most depressed. Honestly, I would scroll past an emotional quote and say 'that's how sad I am today'. I would scroll past an image of slashed wrists and well, you probably know where this is going. Looking back Tumblr was not a board for expression, but a place where I indulged in the reassurance that other people were doing these things, and so could I. The more followers you had, the more sad you were, and so we all fought online to be the most depressed or damaged person we could be. Eventually when I was 17 I saw the light and deleted the damn blog, and have been a much happier person ever since.

Youtube is demonstrating why its not much better on this front, through this video. In case you're not clued up, on the 2nd of January 2018 Logan Paul released a Vlog where is roaming the Aokigahara Forest, better known as the 'suicide forest' in Japan. 247 people committed suicide in this forest in 2010, and Logan Paul thought it would be fun to go there. On encountering a dead body he precedes to comment that 'this was meant to be a fun vlog', and records close-ups of the body, hanging from a noose, with a blurred out face. When he was criticised for this heinous treatment of mental illness, he claims that he was raising awareness.

I would first of all like to pay respect to the man shown in the video. Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy, and I like to think that this is the age where suicide levels decrease as awareness is raised. But not like this. Mental health is a pertinent issue that is affecting more people every day. Logan Paul's actions are proving that amidst the internet this issue is becoming desensitised. I not only question why Paul would post the video, but how he could stand in front of someone who had taken their life and laugh, rather than show remorse or reverence. His actions demonstrate that his profession has lead to him caring more about publicity and views than morals. Because he has become famous by doing absolutely nothing, and so has to desperately maintain that fame by doing anything.  

Freedom of speech is something we are lucky to have in the UK and the US. However platforms such as Youtube and Tumblr, and even facebook, are exploiting that, and the young people who use them, to make money at any cost, abandoning all morals and disregarding the catastrophic affects that mental health can have. Even the beauty videos I watch may not be as innocent as they seem. I dread to think how many girls are developing a barbie-like, distorted view of how they are meant to look. And God only knows how many girls are restricting their eating after watching fitness videos and vegan meal plans.

But the public aren't completely clueless, and we are starting to fight back against this trend. To The Bone (fantastic Netflix film) directly calls out Tumblr on the way it has directly affected people with anorexia and eating disorders. After 'cut for Beiber' twitter got slammed. Hopefully someone will see the light now this has happened on Youtuber, although, last time I checked, Logan Paul still had 15 million followers.