Vlogging in simple words is the making of a video where someone uses a camera to videograph themself talking, explaining, or doing something. In other words, a video blog. Vlogging officially started all the way back in the 2000’s, but did not become popular until 2005 when Jawed Karim made a vlog of him at a zoo. This specific vlog went viral because it interested many people while also having a lot of relatable content.
Since then vlogging has had its ups and downs but recently people, teenagers more specifically, have had a newfound interest in vlogging. More and more people record their daily lives or fun adventures that they go on. Most vloggers now are people in high school or even middle school.
I myself have seen it first hand, students put up their phones and record themselves and friends in class. Personally I never understood why my peers would want to do something like this, until I tried it myself. The worst part was having to set up my camera every class period, but at the end of the day when I watched the videos again, I finally understood why.
Seeing myself from a third person perspective, watching as I talk and socialize with my friends, and then switch to doing my work, getting to listen back to our funny jokes. To say the least, it was like watching a movie about myself. The entire time I replayed the videos and watched my day unfold in front of the camera, I was smiling, laughing, grinning even at the jokes, my side comments, my facial expressions, everything.
A student that I know, Evelina Gijon, a freshman from Pitman, was someone involved in vlogging. Naturally, I wanted to see what her opinion on the topic was.
Gijon’s response was, “I personally think it’s very fun. Like when you’re bored and have nothing else to do, you could start vlogging whatever you were doing.”
I then asked her, “Why do you like the idea of Vlogging?”
“I feel like during vlogging you could be yourself.”
Gijon was also asked, “Does it impact your ability to work?”
“No it didn’t. I would just set up the camera and continue working like usual.”
Although some students may think like this, I wanted to know what the adults and teachers of the school thought about vlogging. So I asked a teacher from Pitman who wishes to stay anonymous about their opinion on vlogging.
They responded with, “It’s a very good pastime. It’s not that bad overall.”
I then asked them, “How do you feel about students Vlogging?”
“I personally think of it as a small distraction, most of the time students just vlog while doing independent work or studying, but when it’s during lectures I get annoyed.”
They were also asked, “Do you think it impacts the student’s ability to work?”
“I have seen a couple of students being distracted by vlogging on their phones, but other than that they are fine.”
The teacher was also questioned, “If you could, would you also vlog the school day?”
Their response was, “Ya I would do that. Even though it does seem to be pretty distracting, I like the idea of recording my day to day life.”
While students do believe vlogging is a harmless little addition to their daily life, teachers think of it as a little something else. But overall, I still believe that vlogging is amazing, it’s fun and one of the best ways to go back and look at past memories.
Most faculties that I have encountered here in Pitman High seem to be pretty nitpicky with phone usage but I don’t see the problem that vlogging proposes. It seems to me that this could be one of the best ways a student can use their phones during class time.