Come on YouTube, Time for an Update

Here is the letter I wrote for our class assignment:

April 6, 2016

YouTube, LLC
901 Cherry Ave.
San Bruno, CA 94066

Dear Content Review Staff,

I am writing to request that a feature be added to your flagging tools.

A few months ago I was watching a video on YouTube with my family, including my 9 year-old brother and 8 year-old sister. That particular video used vulgar language which took us all by surprise. None of us had viewed the video before that time and there was no warning of any kind. My parents and I have admittedly become rather desensitized to profanity over the years, which I believe is partially a result of the way profanity is portrayed in popular media. However, that does not mean we condone its use.

In an effort to protect my younger siblings, I generally view any given form of media before sharing it with my family so I am fully aware of the content they might be exposed to. This gives me the ability to skip objectionable content or suggest a particular video not be viewed at all. I do not yet have children of my own, but when that time comes I am concerned about their potential exposure to profanity in the YouTube community as well. I know some YouTube channels go the effort of bleeping out profane language, but in my experience they are few in number.

“Vulgar language” is listed as a category taken into consideration when evaluating content as appropriate for all ages in the YouTube Help Center under “Policies, safety, and reporting” > “Reporting Center” > “Age-restricted content”. This page further states, “Some videos don't violate our policies, but may not be appropriate for all audiences. In these cases our review team may place an age restriction when we're notified of the content.” The section labeled “Flagging content” (also found under “Reporting Center”) says, “We rely on YouTube community members to flag content that they find inappropriate.”

As a member of the YouTube community, I would welcome the opportunity to flag vulgar language as inappropriate when I observe its use, but this option does not currently exist. Language is not listed as one of the options under the “Report” tool on any given video. No option for “Other” issues exists either, so I am unable to flag any videos for the use of profanity.

I hope you will seriously consider this issue and provide users such as myself with the ability to help contribute to making the YouTube community safer for viewers of all ages.

Sincerely,

Jason Eldredge

Media as a Tool in the LDS Church

Like many others, I watched the Face2Face event with Elder Holland this past Tuesday. It only took me a few minutes to realize that I should definitely take notes and write down thoughts that came to mind. I really enjoyed watching it and greatly appreciated the advice and wisdom shared by Elder Holland, Elder Hallstrom and Sister Stephens!

After it ended, I found myself reflecting on the use of media involved with the event. Technology truly is incredible and it affords us so many great opportunities! I am grateful that the Brethren are so in touch with modern technology and that they utilize it so effectively. I have no doubt that technology advances (such as the ability to broadcast internationally via satellites and the Internet) develop for the benefit of the Church and to further its purposes. The prospect of how the media will be used in the Church in the future excites me, especially when thinking of the idea that people all over the world will have opportunities (in more ways than are currently available) to communicate so personally with Apostles of the Lord.

Back in My Day...

Technology changes so quickly that it becomes really easy to take it for granted. Over the past week I have been reflecting on how media has evolved over time, especially over the past 10-15 years. More specifically I have been thinking about the amazing advances we have experienced in "the Internet age".

Long gone are the days of dial-up Internet. (For a trip down memory lane, click here) And don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're gone! Remember what a pain it was when you were online and someone needed to make a phone call? Not only has the way we access the Internet changed (Thank you Google Fiber!), but the Internet really has revolutionized the world and the way we live our lives.

A few months ago I was talking to my younger brother (age 9) about "the world before YouTube". He loves to go on YouTube and watch videos uploaded by YouTubers of themselves playing Minecraft. Studio C sketches are also among his favorite videos to watch. The conversation went something like this:

"You don't even know how spoiled you are to have shows and videos available whenever you want. When I was your age, if we wanted to watch a show any time we felt like it, we first had to record it. We had to make sure the Satellite box was set to record the show at the right time, that the VCR was set up properly so it would record, and that a VHS tape was in the VCR. We also had to make sure the tape was set to the right spot so we didn't record over something that was already on there."

My sister (now age 19) and I used to record a number of the shows that were on Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network in the late 90s and early 2000s (e.g., Jimmy Neutron, Rugrats, Even Stevens, Recess, Doug, Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd & Eddy, etc.). We still have a few of these tapes, but they do little more than collect dust now. A quick search for any of these shows on YouTube will bring up thousands upon thousands of results! Plenty of clips are available on there, but even full episodes are available in some cases. Nowadays, if my younger siblings want to watch a show that currently airs on one of these channels they can open the channel's app on a tablet and have access to full episodes of a dozen different shows.

Earlier this week I looked up the Republican debates on YouTube since I have not watched any of the more recent ones. Later in the week I remembered the conversation I had with my brother about recording shows back in the day. I realized how I had taken for granted the fact that any of the debates I wanted to watch would be available online, and so easily accessible. Twenty years ago if I had missed the debate when it originally aired and did not record it I would have been out of luck. We really do live in an incredible time!

When I stop and think about how technology has changed in my lifetime alone I can only imagine what it will be like for my own children. I remember asking my sister (now age 8) to put a VHS tape in the VCR (before they were all donated to Deseret Industries about a year ago), and though I can not recall what she asked at the time, I do remember that she had no clue how the VCR worked. This did not necessarily come as a surprise, but it was certainly a testament to just how much the times have changed!

Movie Hype in the 21st Century

Remember when you had to stand in line for 2 hours to get tickets for the next big blockbuster only to be sorely disappointed when you finally got to the window and learned that all showings had been sold out for the weekend? Yeah, me neither.

We are so spoiled when it comes to buying movie tickets these days! The scenario I described to open this post was inspired by the stories I have heard in documentaries about the initial release of Star Wars in 1977. I remember someone saying they saw the movie for the first time during opening weekend and immediately got back in line and waited 2 hours to buy tickets to see it a second time. When I was younger I recall standing in line to get tickets to a few movies here and there, but none of my experiences were anything like those of moviegoers when Star Wars first came out. Nowadays, we can order our tickets well in advance and even reserve the exact seats we will be in to enjoy the movie (rather than taking our chances in the "first come, first serve" battle for good seats). 

Fast forward to the year 2015 and chances are you knew about Star Wars: The Force Awakens long before it was released. Whether you knew a lot about it (i.e., the plot, names of the new characters, etc.), or only a little, you still knew it was coming. The hype that builds up before modern blockbusters is amazing to think about when you compare it to the hype that preceded older movies. Believe it or not, Star Wars (1977) was not very well known by the public at the time of its release. Its success was due in large part to word of mouth after the premiere. 

Unlike moviegoers who had to wait hours to see the original Star Wars, I purchased tickets for my family and I to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on October 19th, 2015, almost a full 2 months before it was even released! I knew that if we waited any longer than opening weekend to see the movie that spoilers would be all over Facebook and YouTube, so I made it a point to get tickets as early as possible. The night I went to get tickets was the same night they were first made available. Even then, all the "good" seats for the showing we ended up going to were already claimed by the time I got to the theater. I had initially hoped to get tickets for the "Tightwad Tuesday" after release, but that particular showing was already sold out!

I have been interested in seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for some time now and the latest trailer got me fairly excited about it. Yesterday I was going to make the trip over to the Megaplex at Geneva to buy a ticket for a showing on the first "Tightwad Tuesday" after the movie is released. Before I left to go to the theater, I decided I should probably check the theater's website to see if tickets were available yet. When I saw that advanced tickets are scheduled to go on sale starting Monday, the 29th, I was actually disappointed. The movie will not even be released for another month! After feeling disappointed for a minute, I realized how silly it was for me to even think that way. This experience made me reflect on just how much the times have changed and how different the movie-going experience is now compared to what it was like for our parents and grandparents. 

So next time you go see a blockbuster movie with a pre-purchased ticket (and there will be a number of them this year alone), take a minute to think about how awesome it is that your seats were reserved so you did not have to sit up in the miserable front row, or how you were able to walk right in and not wait in line for an hour or 2. And as advantageous as technology has become in revolutionizing the theater industry and our experience as viewers, PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE! (Haha, just thought I would throw that out there.) Enjoy the movie!