We all know about the AMSR videos by now, and perhaps you know about the pimple popping videos, but I just learned about candy unwrapping videos, and I’m sure there are so many more You Tube genres I am unaware of. So let’s collect a list!
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I’m sure everyone knows about this, but the one I fall into a hole over again and again is “Grocery shopping hauls” - and this isn’t like extreme couponers or anything, its just… what someone bought at the grocery store.
Some of these videos have thousands of views! And its just, milk, eggs, meat, bread, cheese… its not even interesting stuff. They don’t go anywhere interesting, just Target or Kroger or wherever. Its super mundane, boring, groceries. Not even on sale. Just “Here’s what I bought this week.” - WHY IS THIS A THING?
I don’t understand!!
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Somehow, I think @OtherMichael’s bot is involved in inflating ‘watch’ counts and generally causing mayhem. Because who the hell could sit and watch someone unpacking…their…
brb
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I like watching them because 99% of them are American, and I’m Canadian, and your food is weird!
(TBF - I’m sure if I could find Canadian ones I’d find them weird too, but we don’t buy a lot of processed or pre-packaged goods)
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Darn it, why did you have to post this the week before finals?! I’m supposed to be studying!
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I knew about makeup haul videos and fashion haul videos, which I do understand because they teach how someone knowledgeable buys and uses these products, so maybe it’s kind of the same thing where someone is sharing, “I buy the frozen mangos in bulk and use these to make smoothies in the morning” or “I buy organic tomatoes because they use a lot of chemical sprays on the nonorganic ones, but I buy the regular carrots because they are rarely sprayed.” Maybe???
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Some of them do meal plans or recipes, but a lot of it is just “here is all the yogurt I bought at Aldi” - its weird!
This one, in the comments even says she doesn’t have a budget, so not about “how to feed a family on a budget” and no recipes or meal plans, just “Here’s what I bought” - WHY?
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Because Canadian food is all ramps and milk-bags and boxes of poutine?
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I always thought this book was interesting:
Although here the food is different enough to be noteworthy. There does seem to be an ASMR-like appeal in watching mundane videos of other people doing stuff that you could easily do yourself. My kids love toy unboxing videos and videos of other people playing games, especially if they have those toys and games themselves. It’s weird.
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I love that book.
See also the “In Her Kitchen” photography project.
http://www.gabrielegalimberti.com/projects-2/delicatessen-with-love-2/
I had a long conversation with a 2nd year undergrad on Friday about Fallout4, a game I’m currently playing, a game that he hasn’t played but has “watched”, on YouTube. That is a thing i do not get. I fully watch games on YouTube, when I’m stuck, when I don’t know what to do next, when I need a hint… (or when the boss level is too hard and I just want to see how the damn game ends, looking at you Portal2!) …but to just watch the game and NOT play it? That makes no sense to me at all!
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I’ll probably end up watching these when I get my own place and have to do all my own grocery shopping.
It looks like a half-decent “howto adult” video.
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Okay, yeah, I don’t get this!!! Also,I don’t get people who share pics of their kids and their names and their whole family information to every single person on the www. Seems like a super bad idea. Also, this lady, wow, that’s a lot of sugary crap!
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Well, it isn’t just about the game it’s about the Youtuber, it’s about the community they cultivate, and honestly, I suck at most gaming, and it’s sometimes just more fun to watch someone decent play it well than to die hundreds of times.
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RIGHT? Like everything is processed and packaged and “organic” but OMG so much plastic! I’m so confused! She bought a bag of apples and peanut butter… but then she also bought a pre-cut apple in a package with “peanut butter dip” WHY?
LOL - thanks to the BBS for following me down the youtube rabbit hole that is grocery hauls!
@LDoBe - they are an they aren’t. The ones that are about budgets or meal plans or coupons, those are pretty good. The one I linked up there… is not! 
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I kind of get the peek inside someone’s pantry though. When I was in middle school, my best friend’s family ate the total opposite way my family did. We made everything from scratch, so our pantry had dried beans, rice, cans of creamed soup to put into casseroles - really very little to just stick in your mouth. Her family had Twinkies and made entire packages of bacon at once and kept sodas in the fridge where everyone could get to them instead of them being rationed out like a special treat. I LOVED going to her house and seeing their pantry.
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There are the somewhat-well-know toy opening videos, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f03WHlkLwW0
Which I really don’t get. They seem aimed at kids (and, to be fair, my kids went on a bender with these for a while…), and they are tagged to the hilt and always on auto-play playlists (I think to rack-up views). But still: 7 million views of some guy opening junky toys? Weird.
And then there are the (I think) wonderful machining videos (45 minutes of calibration and lathe work!) like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i0g8vWeliI
And I’ll admit I get into the lock-picking videos- not how-to’s, mind you- just video of people picking locks. Really difficult one, too. Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eu3gLTZYCk
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In the same vein… ear cleaning - YouTube. Once you start getting to the 2nd/3rd world ones, it is time to quit. Just try not to squirm as the ENT in India removes a large living grasshopper-ish bug…
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I really love Adam Savage’s one day builds for the Tested channel. It is really neat at least to me watch him work and share all his professional studio experience for model making.
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I’m guessing the ones with thousands of views have other videos with more … entertainment value for lack of a better word.
I watch grav3yardgirl videos that aren’t my thing because it’s nice to have a friendly voice talking. It doesn’t hurt that most of her videos are my thing.
I love most of even her haul videos because makeup is something I’m trying to get better at but the ones where she’s actually shopping tend to make me nauseas cuz of hand held videography so I turn it on in the background.
Not everybody’s thing but it doesn’t really have to be. I’ve stumbled on shopping haul videos from people I didn’t share interests with and it was like … OK, this didn’t help what I was looking for but good for y’all? XD
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