Concealed lines in Gen Z’s world of content creation

YouTube's 2024 trend report reveals Gen Z's video content creator identity, highlighting the pressures and pitfalls of online creativity.

In YouTube’s 2024 annual trend report, a survey revealed that around 65% of Gen Z identify themselves as video content creators when asked how they would spend their time online. Scroll through any social media platform and you will see a flood of ‘sit down’ videos where creators chat about everything under the sun. From the Scandinavian scarf trend that raised eyebrows among South Asian content creators to the ever-popular ‘Get ready with me’ (GRWM) reels, it almost feels like the visual storytelling and video culture as a whole is, indeed, the vocabulary of Gen Z creativity.

But wait, as you are tempted to believe it is all glitter, viewers and content creators themselves have been saying otherwise. “And, so is the burnout and comparison after making the 30 seconds of reels, there, I said it,” says Poushali Pammi from Chennai, a digital marketing executive in her early twenties, who identifies herself as a lifestyle and desi aesthetic creator. “You have this constant pressure to keep performing and posting online once the label ‘content creator’ sticks to you, especially for full-time content creators,” she says.

Keerthana S., 24, from Chennai says video culture is her kind of communication. “For me, it is like a digital diary of recording everything I like. Beginning my day, I record and post my outfits, makeup looks, and GRWM videos. Simply, it is fun to put myself out there and build a community,” says the creator who looks at posting as a form of memory collection. But even these passion projects are not immune to the emotional toll at the end of the day.

“Personally, I see the fear of missing out (FOMO) is real in the content world,” she says. While Gen Z brought the joy of missing out (JOMO) trend alive, the idea that it is okay to miss out on experiences and events and the content creation space still thrives on the fear of falling behind. Everyone is racing to catch up, stay relevant, to be seen, or the community that they have meticulously built drops. “If we stop creating, we are no longer relevant, and we are obligated to never take a break, or the views drop. But I have slowly learnt to take a step back, to breathe. I remind myself that I don’t have to be constantly online, just be real when I show up,” says Poushali.

Keerthana points to the instances of how this content and influencer culture quietly seeps into the minds of young audiences. “Even for something as simple as a morning skincare routine video, creators showcasing their shelves lined with multiple products, it becomes a 10-step skincare routine. It crosses the line into over-consumption. That is how the feeling of missing out spreads, among viewers as well as other creators,” says Keerthana. She adds that it is also easy to fall into the slippery slope of chasing clout and running behind algorithm, losing sight of why they started.

“When people say they are willing to jump on every trend just to go viral, that is when authenticity starts to fall behind where you risk the real self,” Poushali adds. Then there are aesthetics, such as maximalism, Y2K, barbiecore and so on, where you are expected to pick a niche and shrink, to fit an aesthetic feed. “When you are busy copying trends, it is easy to lose yourself. Going viral on the internet is exciting but creating content that truly represents you is the kind of content that lasts,” adds Poushali. And as for sit-down reels, whether the viewers read the information more or scroll through after absorbing the foundation from the 60-second reel is a topic for another day!