Going Cold Turkey to Youtube Gamers & Vloggers

Definition of ‘Cold Turkey’

As a noun:
The unpleasant symptoms caused by suddenly ceasing to take a drug to which one is addicted.
“stopping the drug may result in cold turkey”

As an adverb:
In a sudden and abrupt manner.
“I had to quit drinking cold turkey”

How I Became a YouTube Addict

It’s nothing to be proud of, but for reasons that many people are probably still not totally aware. But it happened in stages.

Back in 2012 I was introduced to Grand Theft Auto IV . I bought a PC-DVD version of the game – and contemplated installing it. So before I did, I went to YouTube to learn more about it. That’s when the addiction began.

Somehow the first Youtube gamer I discovered was HikeTheGamer . His plays were often up to two hours long. His entourage varied in ages and countries of origin, yet somehow the group made it all work. Yet I got into the game play, watching them sometimes for the entire video. They made it interesting. But the first problem I had was the amount of download!

From there I found a bunch of clever guys who made these games both funny and a parody of the game itself –The ASDF’s . I had only found there archived clips – and spent too much time trying to find them at the current era. They were fun to watch and laugh at, which is what I really needed. It was at that point that I realised I didn’t need nor want a gaming addiction, I was seeking something to laugh at. My next article will explain why further.

From there my addiction was very Doctor-Who-Peter-Capaldi-Incarnation “I came the long way round” – Wherein I finally found the current and very popular YouTube Gamers who had millions of viewers and subscribers. I watched as they grew in fandom in millions every few months. Some of the lads who are now YouTube-stars were being born. But I never felt the inclination to join their ranks – I finally realised that I could get all I wanted from watching them. These boys are funny, hilarious and often had me laughing at odd moments!

So here are all the YouTube Gamers I developed a strong addiction to watching, in order of my awareness of them online:

* Lui Calibre
* VanossGaming
* H2O Delirious
Mini Ladd
Moo Snuckel
BasicallyIDoWork
I Am Wildcat
Silent Droidd
CaRt0oNz
The Terroriser
Daithi De Nogla
SeaNanners
Jacksepticeye
… a few others, but these guys are the quickest to remember off the top of my head!

I have since reduced my addiction to Vanoss because the rest will often be in his videos – and the others usually upload almost the same video, just shot from their perspective. This can sometimes be interesting, particularly the audio.

Introducing Vlog-Movies

In early 2016 a Facebook friend told me about Casey Neistat with his mini-movie-style of YouTube creations. As my addiction to online gamers came to an end, watching Casey seemed a natural progression – and soon I realised how I could easily create similar styled videos of my own. Making mini-movies of parts of my life tickled a part of my brain that wanted to record my blogs with audio – and here was the answer.

I am now ALL caught up with Casey’s videos. Yes, all of them. I don’t know why, it is quite voyeuristic. My 18mo son Aidan loves watching Casey’s daughter Francine on my smartphone. Scary, yet cute.

Thanks to Casey, I also got addicted to the vlogs (~not their gaming nor prank channels!) of these guys in order of discovery:

Tom Syndicate
Fousey
* Roman Atwood
* Shonduras
There are a few others, but they appear to have lost their way.

In July 2016 our household switched to NBN

This was the most amazing thing to happen to us. I remember going through the era of dial-up tones, I remember intermittent ADSL and ADLS2 – and now we have NBN, the world-wide-web is coming into our home at SIX TIMES FASTER than we previously had it.

But here is the downside of NBN:

Improved connectivity means no more buffering – meaning you forget to notice that a download is in process. When events happen fast, your brain forgets to remember that the information is being downloaded from the internet. YouTube videos suddenly default to 1080p…
Improved and faster download means you are downloading formidable amounts of data. With limited internet plans, your monthly limit can get maxxed out in two weeks. Sigh. I had to reduce my YouTube addiction.

So I have had to go cold turkey.

I chose Only two with which to stay connected:

Vanoss . Okay, and H2O Delirious. That guy makes me laugh.
Casey. Well, Shonduras . That guy makes me really laugh and cry, I don’t know how he doesn’t break his limbs more often!

Why tell you all this?

Because I want to focus more on my photography, graphic design and MY OWN VLOG. I got so caught up in everyone else that I forgot my own goals and aspirations!

Oh, and to get them out of my browser bookmarks. ;)