920: YouTube Parties

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YouTube Parties

Title text: This reminds me of that video where... no? How have you not seen that? Oh man, let me find it. No, it's ok, we can go back to your video later.

Explanation

A YouTube party is when a group of people show each other YouTube videos. The problem with YouTube parties is that no one pays attention to the video that's playing; instead, each person is thinking of the video that they personally want to play next.

You can see analogous behavior at any get-together where couples (parents) are telling stories about their kids. Nobody cares about anybody else's kid; they are just waiting (not even listening) until they get the chance to talk about their own offspring.

The joke seems to be that everybody is doing this, but it is unclear whether they realize it. They each seem to be under the delusion that the others will be fascinated by "their" video (or child's accomplishments), even though the evidence strongly suggests otherwise. Possibly they don't care about that either; they just want an audience, even an unwilling one.

This may be defensible where kids are involved, because the parents could reasonably feel that the accomplishments of their children reflect well on themselves. However, the people in the YouTube party didn't create the videos, they just found them. Which makes their behavior (or perhaps YouTube parties in general) even more inane and pointless.

The title text reiterates this point. The speaker is reminded of another video that is so superior to the one currently playing that we should find it and watch it immediately. We can always go back to the current video later (if anybody still remembers, that is; and according to the comic above no one will want to remember it).

Transcript

[Cueball and a group consisting of three Cueballs and one Ponytail are standing in a dark room around a table. The group and Cueball are illuminated by a laptop on the table.]

[Caption above the panel:]

The problem with YouTube parties:

Cueball (thinking): This video is blowing their MINDS.

Group (thinking): Oh man, I know what video we should watch once this is over.

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Discussion

Oh god, is this what other people do to me when I'm showing a video at a youtube party? Gaaaah. Davidy²²[talk] 09:26, 9 March 2013 (UTC)

Is a YouTube party a real thing? I've never heard of one. 70.24.167.3 23:26, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi 70.24.167.3 -- they totally are a real thing !! -- however you need a special invitation from the secret society, I can email you one if you want. 10.0.0.1 25:12, 32 December 2013 (UTC) -- Spongebog (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Don't worry here is a invitation 172.16.10.123 23:12, 1 December 2013 (UTC) -- Spongebog (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I'd say most "YouTube parties" are just coincidental gatherings of people in front of a computer, e.g. during any other kind of party, or in an office break. As for the explanation given here, I don't see the comic being "unclear whether they realize it". They don't realize it, everybody thinks his video will blow the others' minds. --YMS (talk) 20:05, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

If you tell a story about your kid, I hope you're not doing it to show off. In my opinion, that's immoral. 172.68.47.6 03:55, 19 November 2017 (UTC)

This also happens during karaoke. Nobody is amazed by your performance, they're all just silently hyping themselves up for when their song comes up in queue. 162.158.106.14 15:29, 5 August 2021 (UTC)