Teens, Media and Shock Value

I’m with a group of teenagers who are watching YouTube channels on their large tv. They are watching a channel by a guy in his young 20s who features videos on engaging topics to young people like ;  

- Making rainbow colored foods with food coloring 

- Cutting plastic dolls with a hot knife and using sexual inuendos as things ooze Out. 

- Torcher devices throughout history

Topics like these are related to the teen age desire for exploration and fantasy of adulthood freedom. They also serve as a visually satusfying sensory experience for those watching who cannot prsentky destroy something themselves.

My concern is that these youtubers are making content for teens and attracting them by exploring curiousities that build upon the young person’s sense of curiosity without building up their positive skillsets or sense of self. For young people watching these videos without a positive adult influence outside of their tv, this digestion of promoted trash is only benefiting the video creator who makes money by the viewer watching.