I saw someone say we should abandon the label "content creator" and ermm... nah, that's an accurate descriptor of what a lot of people are doing. It's getting harder and harder to find real people writing and editing their own videos nowadays.
The so-called golden era, 2010-2013 when a bunch of normies started getting online, it really only lasted for a very short time looking back on it. This was when the idea of an influencer first became a thing and people were building enormous brands, animation still had a place, etc.
But then you get to 2014-2017 and it was basically just non-stop bullshit. You've got people like James Charles mouthing the N-word at a club but not actually saying it out loud, but at the same time you've got Markiplier, so this was really the last era where "real people" were still making videos.
I would say 2018-2023 was when YouTube officially died. This was when everything became noticeably algorithm-maxed, you've got Mr. Beast, Dream, Corpse Husband, just nothing but bottom of the barrel fucking garbage. It was a net loss for humanity.
And 2024+ I would say is defined by complete enshittification. We're in the AI era now where you have to question if this was made not just by a "real person", but an actual human being. Everything is eggrigeious clickbait, every celebrity has a podcast, etc. It's kind of a bummer.
