 Let's talk about YouTubers quitting YouTube. This past month has been a doozy on the internet. A lot of people have been coming out and saying that they are done with YouTube, or at least taking a big, big, big step back. Two days ago, MatPat posted Goodbye Internet where it was not clickbait. He announced that he is stepping down from YouTube and will no longer be the main part of the channel study runs. For the past about 13 years, he's been making videos on the Game Theorists and all of his other channels. And he talked about in his video how he has been working late nights for the past decade. And he's just been doing the grind and everything is about work. And now he wants to step back and he wants to spend time with his family and simply just not do the grind anymore. And there have been several other YouTubers recently who have said the same thing. Tom Scott recently posted his last video as well, announcing that he would be stepping down from making videos once a week like he's done for the past 10 years. Captain Sparkles recently released a video saying that he was stepping back as well. Meet Canyon also made a similar video talking about how he wants to focus more on passion projects that he's doing instead of just doing the grind. And so I know that a bunch of people are talking about this right now, but I also just kind of wanted to give my two cents and give you my thoughts as not only a YouTuber, but a YouTuber that has been on the platform for over a decade now. Just off the cuff, I wish absolutely nothing to the best to Matt Pat, to Tom Scott, to Captain Sparkles, Meet Canyon, everybody who has sort of been coming out and saying that they're taking a step back either for a short while and just wanna focus on personal projects or stepping down sort of like for good and saying like, you know, this is the end. I fully support that decision and I am so proud of all the people for doing that because it takes a lot to come to that conclusion one, but to also actually post that video and have a firm like, okay, this is it. I've been making YouTube videos now for close to 12 years. I started when I was 15 years old. I am now 27. I started in 2012 making videos. And while there's a part of me that's like, wow, time has really flown by, there's also another part of me that's like, yeah, I've been doing this for a really long time and there are so many people who have been doing it as long as I have or way, way, way longer. Like Smosh, I think is 18 years old now, which is insane. Again, Matt Pat has been doing it for 13 years. Mark, I think, has been doing it for 12. Sean, I think for 11 or 12 as well. There are so many channels that have been doing YouTube for over a decade now. The platform of YouTube, obviously, it's growing and it's aging and the people that started out on the platform are getting to a point where they're like, okay, I've been doing this for a while now and I think I'm ready to move on. And as sad as that can be because you're seeing some of your favorite creators go away and they're not making those videos, I think that it's a good thing. Nothing lasts forever. I know better than anybody with Una Sanis, it's good for things to have a definitive end and things will, whether you like it or not, but I think that it's better, in my personal opinion, to lay something to rest on your own accord rather than just fizzle out into obscurity and just grind yourself until you just can't do it anymore. And I think that that grind is kind of what leads to saying, okay, I think that I should stop now. I think that I'm done. Matt Pat, again, talked about in his video how he's been pulling so many late nights, everything is about work. He wants to just be able to sit on the couch with his wife and play a video game without having to analyze it for a video. I've said this before a lot, especially when people ask about what it is like to be a YouTuber and have YouTube as a job. And I've always explained that YouTube isn't really a job. YouTube is a lifestyle. A lot of the people that do YouTube full-time and a lot of the people who are grinding away at it, you don't clock in and clock out. You're just kind of always thinking of the next video or always working on something or, you know, like your day doesn't really like end. Like I get up and whether I'm recording or whether I'm streaming or whether I'm planning a video, most of my day is about YouTube. Even when I take vacation and I think that this is true for most creators, even when you're trying to take a break, you're still thinking about this thing. And I think that that is different from a lot of jobs where, you know, you clock in, you clock out and then you go about your day and do whatever you want. But with YouTube, it really kind of takes over your entire life. And as incredible as YouTube can be and as rewarding as it can be, like it's hard and it's really exhausting because it takes over everything. While it's sad to see certain channels go, I'm not necessarily surprised because people have been doing this for, again, years and years over a decade now making this stuff. And sometimes you just get to a point where you realize, okay, I think that I'm done or at the very least, I think that I need to change the way that I'm doing this and make it a hobby again. Because that's how everybody started out on YouTube, especially with like the Gen 1 YouTubers and earlier YouTubers, everyone started out with this being a hobby. And then it blew up and morphed into something that like we couldn't imagine. Nobody thought that they were gonna do YouTube for their job. But now, you know, 10, 15, close to 20 years later, there's so many people who have had success on the platform and it's turned into not only a career for themselves, but especially like with the map paths of the platform, whole companies that employ dozens of people and they have a whole team and it's a whole operation. I do think that we're gonna start to see a lot more of these videos in the next few years. Like in these next like five years, I think we're gonna see a lot of people leaving and a lot of people, you know, hanging up the hat. And I think that that's okay. Again, it's inherently sad because you don't wanna see your favorite creator leave. At the same time, I think it's important to recognize, okay, like this thing was great. It lasted for a really long time. 13 years is a really long time to be doing that. And now it's done and we can celebrate it and we can look back on it fondly. We don't have to look back on it, you know, being sad that it's over. Don't cry cause it's over. Smile because it happened, you know? I think that it's good. Like I think that it's good that people are growing and evolving and like not only are the people that are making the videos growing, but I think that something that a lot of people forget is like the audience is growing as well. Like so many of you guys have been watching me since the beginning, when I was a child making videos and you were a child watching my videos and now we're full-ass adults now. So many people have grown up watching these channels and just like everything else, people grow and interests change and that's true for the creators as well, especially if you're making the same kind of stuff for the past decade. You know, you might lose interest in a show and in this case, you might lose interest in a creator. And I think that it's okay to admit on the other end of things for a creator to say, hey, I've grown and I've changed a lot over the years and this isn't necessarily something that I wanna keep doing or the way that I'm doing it isn't making me happy anymore. I had that this past year. Like I did the rebrand from Crank Gameplays to just Ethan Nester because after 10 years of making gaming videos, while it was super fun and it got me to where I am and I have extremely fond memories of doing all the Let's Plays and doing these different series that you guys really enjoyed, I got to a point where I was like, this isn't fulfilling for me anymore. And so I decided to change up my content and every now and again, we'll go back and play a game and stuff like that. But I needed to change what I was doing and people deciding to step down from YouTube, whether it's making videos way less frequently or stepping out as a whole. I think that that is fine and it's the same kind of thing where you just realize, been doing this for a really long time and I've grown, I've kind of grown out of this at this point. What I mean by that is you've grown out of it in the sense that you've taken everything, you've taken all these experiences and you've learned everything that you can and now it's time to move on to the next thing. MatPat's video in particular, it really struck a chord because he has been making videos for such a long time and the way that he talked about his relationship with this audience was really sweet. At the end of the video, he was like, you know, I'm not gonna be gone forever. You can think of me more as sort of like the grandpa that lives in a different state that you see every now and again. You see on special occasions, like he's not gonna just be gone forever. You know, he'll come back. He'll do certain things at certain times. He'll be special guests, make little appearances and stuff like that. He's just not the main person anymore and he's passing the torch off to somebody else. In his circumstance, he's passing the torch of the game theorist and his other channel literally to another person to host but I think that the same thing can kind of be said for a channel as a whole. You know, there's different generations of YouTubers and so there's cycles that happen and so when one person steps away, someone else steps in to fill their place. That's just the natural progression of stuff. So if a channel is like, hey guys, I'm done. Even if it's not a legitimate, I'm sending you all to this other YouTuber. There is sort of like a passing of the torch to the next generation. But MapHad's video got me thinking a lot about my journey on YouTube and where it's going because again, I've been doing this for almost 12 years now and I've known since the beginning that it's not gonna last forever. As sad as it may seem and it's not coming anytime soon, don't worry but at some point I will make this same video. I will make a video saying goodbye because at some point I will want to move on to do something different and I will want to move on to something that's gonna challenge me more because I absolutely love doing what I do and I feel so incredibly lucky but there will be a point when it's time to move on to the next thing. And again, it's not coming soon but it just, it made me think about that. It made me think a bit about what I wanna do next after this because I am getting older. I'm still kind of a young buck. I'm 27, I'm closing in on 30 so I still have time left but it made me think about like I'm getting older and my life is changing and this isn't gonna last forever. So it just kind of made me think and it made me very appreciative of what I have in the audience that I have and I'm so grateful for you guys for being here at all and I feel extremely motivated right now. I made a new schedule for myself to just kind of kick my own ass into gear a little bit. I've felt like I'm not really good at YouTube and at streaming and stuff like that this past like a year or so and I feel very motivated to get back into that zone and it is kind of unhealthy for sure because it's kind of the opposite of what Matt was talking about in this video where he's like, you know, I don't love the late nights and that's kind of what I am getting myself into right now is getting back into the grind and I wanna make sure that I'm aware and healthy about it and I don't work myself into burnout and stuff like that but I feel very motivated because he reminded me that this isn't gonna last forever and that I wanna do the most with this that I can while I can and while I still am able to make videos and while you guys are still here because you guys will move on too and that's okay but at the end of the day, I think that it's great seeing Matt and seeing Tom Scott and seeing all of these different YouTubers seeing Felix, Felix has talked about it a little bit how he's sort of said that he's retired now he makes the videos that he wants to make but he doesn't do the daily grind anymore especially now that he has a family but I'm very, very happy for all of these people for putting in the insane amount of work that they've put into not only their channels but into the platform as a whole Matt has done so much for this platform and so much for creators and he is such a damn sweetheart I've had the pleasure of meeting him and hanging out with him a couple of times and he is such a great guy also thanks for the unisonous shout out Matt I appreciate it makes my heart happy knowing that that not only made a difference for people that watched the channel but it impacted you in some way that was really cool but I'm extremely happy for Matt and everybody else for getting to this point where they've realized I put in so much work and I gave back so much to my own channel and the platform and sort of I've done my time and I'm ready to move on to something else and I'm ready to sort of lay this to rest that's kind of everything that I wanted to say I don't have a ton more to say I just kind of wanted to give you my two cents and I wanted to also just show my appreciation for Matt, for Tom Scott for all of the people who are choosing to step away because again, it's sad but it's very bittersweet and I'm very happy for them and I'm very excited to see what they do next and I'm glad that you guys can finally rest and again, don't worry while someday I will make that video saying goodbye and stepping away that video is not happening today and it's not happening anytime soon so until then, I'm gonna keep working really hard and I'm not gonna take this channel and this thing that I have for granted and I'm excited to see where it goes these next few years those are my thoughts let me know what you guys think down in the comments I hope that this was insightful in any way or at least just kind of made you think and yeah, those are my thoughts see you guys in the next video bye