[HN Gopher] So Your Kid Wants to Be a Twitch Streamer
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       So Your Kid Wants to Be a Twitch Streamer
        
       Author : gmays
       Score  : 13 points
       Date   : 2023-04-27 19:36 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.wired.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.wired.com)
        
       | dron57 wrote:
       | A child wanting to be a streamer is no different from wanting to
       | be a professional actor or a soccer player. This story as cute as
       | its folksy wisdom was didn't mention scalability or the long tail
       | of jobs.
       | 
       | Some jobs scale, some do not. Brad Pitt, Cristiano Ronaldo,
       | Rihanna and PewDiePie all have the benefit of being in the 1%
       | (0.1%?) of their respective professions. They reap all the
       | rewards. But there are millions and millions of people who aren't
       | quite at the top and they get nothing. Dentists or plumbers on
       | the other hand provide a service to a specific number of people.
       | Their jobs do not scale. As such they are safer from the global
       | Internet-wide competition and automation.
        
       | c7DJTLrn wrote:
       | I'd be extremely disappointed if I had kids and their dream was
       | to become a YouTuber, Twitch-er, TikTok-er, or any other kind of
       | "influencer." Luckily, I don't plan to.
        
         | tmpz22 wrote:
         | > I'd be extremely disappointed if I had kids and their dream
         | was to become a YouTuber, Twitch-er, TikTok-er, or any other
         | kind of "influencer." Luckily, I don't plan to.
         | 
         | "I don't plan to have my kid dream to become a influencer"
         | 
         | Yeah man control your kids dreams that'll work.
        
           | Wowfunhappy wrote:
           | I read the GP's post as "I don't plan to have kids," since
           | obviously dreams can't be controlled.
        
             | isk517 wrote:
             | I would be more than happy to offer my services as a
             | behavioral therapist for theoretical children in
             | hypothetical situations.
        
         | akomtu wrote:
         | A modest youtuber can do more good than a thousand "well-
         | adjusted" office workers. For example, this youtuber could
         | travel the world and film on his phone the rapid changes of the
         | climate: drying up seas, growing mountains of trash, poisoned
         | rivers and so on.
        
         | TheFreim wrote:
         | It doesn't seem to be much different than a child wanting to be
         | an actor.
        
           | jutrewag wrote:
           | I disagree. Being an actor is intensely social, physical and
           | plays perfectly into what is traditionally, and correctly,
           | considered a well lived life.
        
             | fauxpause_ wrote:
             | Being an influencer isn't intensely social?
        
               | npunt wrote:
               | I imagine influencers are far more parasocial than
               | social.
               | 
               | Acting involves attunement with fellow actors and being
               | part of a larger creative process and work. It's a lot of
               | showing up in person and figuring out how to work with
               | others.
               | 
               | Influencers need only stay at home, work a camera, and
               | manage parasocial fan conversations. There's no inherent
               | in-person physicality of relationships and all the
               | socializing that entails, nor even the need for peer
               | relationships or any connection to a larger work that the
               | influencer is a part of. At its core it's only a streamer
               | and some people they probably don't know watching.
        
             | TheFreim wrote:
             | That's a good point, you may be right.
        
               | kiba wrote:
               | As an actor, I love performing on stage! I don't imagine
               | that I will ever be famous though.
        
       | govolckurself wrote:
       | Jesus Christ, how tedious. Just tell your kids that the vast
       | majority of streamers make approximately zero dollars, and that,
       | if they want to pay their bills, they should probably take a
       | higher-paying job and do Twitch streaming in the evenings.
        
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       (page generated 2023-04-27 23:02 UTC)