<story><title>The Blindness of Social Wealth</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/opinion/facebook-social-wealth.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>thisisit</author><text>There is a growing culture of reaction videos on YT. People watch other people watching and reacting to stuff. That never sat well with me. And I always wondered - are people so alone or insecure that they need to watch other people&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;reaction&amp;quot; to feel better? Given the rise of reaction channels on YT, I guess the answer is resounding - Yes.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>WhompingWindows</author><text>I don&amp;#x27;t think it&amp;#x27;s about insecurity. I think it&amp;#x27;s that YT is usually consumed alone, and having someone with whom to share a reaction enhances the experience. For me, it&amp;#x27;s about emotional contagion: if others are laughing, you&amp;#x27;re going to laugh more, too. So, pile on top of this a charismatic personality that attracts people, and its entirely sensible you have commentators&amp;#x2F;reactors to video game streams or live streams, rather than just the base content which is devoid of social experience.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Blindness of Social Wealth</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/opinion/facebook-social-wealth.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>thisisit</author><text>There is a growing culture of reaction videos on YT. People watch other people watching and reacting to stuff. That never sat well with me. And I always wondered - are people so alone or insecure that they need to watch other people&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;reaction&amp;quot; to feel better? Given the rise of reaction channels on YT, I guess the answer is resounding - Yes.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tdb7893</author><text>People are naturally social and people&amp;#x27;s reactions can be interesting and fun. I don&amp;#x27;t watch reaction videos but I know at least that my friends are really funny when reacting to things in person so it&amp;#x27;s unsurprising that an Internet personality can be also.</text></comment>