YouTubers going crazy, quitting site (video)

Julia Alexander, June 1, '18; Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

"This is all I’ve ever wanted. Why am I so unhappy?"

I'm sick of making viral videos. I quit!

Three weeks ago, Bobby Burns, a YouTuber with just under one million subscribers, sat down on a rock in Central Park to talk about a recent mental health episode.

One week ago, Elle Mills, a creator with more than 1.2 million subscribers, uploaded a video that included vulnerable footage during a breakdown.

Six days ago, Rubén “El Rubius” Gundersen, the third most popular YouTuber in the world with just under 30 million subscribers, turned on his camera to talk to his viewers about the fear of an impending [mental] breakdown and his decision to take a break from YouTube.

 

Burns, Mills, and Gundersen aren’t alone. Erik “M3RKMUS1C” Phillips (four million subscribers), Benjamin “Crainer” Vestergaard (2.7 million subscribers), and other top YouTubers have either announced brief hiatuses from the platform or discussed their own struggles with burnout in the past month.

RIP: Kate Spade, 55, with her shoe line (AP)

Everyone from PewDiePie (62 million subscribers) to Jake Paul (15.2 million subscribers) have dealt with burnout.

Lately, however, it seems like more of YouTube’s top creators are coming forward with their mental health problems.... More

• Kate Spade, rich founder of two fashion empires, commits suicide because of [too much money and success and/or] mental breakdown