Opinion | Vlogging : The rise of Bedroom Content

I fail to see what kind of content this is showing family members, homes, rooms, what they cooked and ate for breakfast, lunch or dinner, what is being made in the kitchen today, revealing their bedrooms to the public and exposing their personal lives.

Everyone must be aware that there is currently a vlogging trend sweeping across the world, especially in South Asia and it is particularly booming in India and Pakistan and our Kashmir can’t be left behind in any trend. It is like a wave of vlogging has hit Kashmir and everyone is trying to become a vlogger. It is great if someone has the skills for it and pursues it as a passion while earning money from it. Vlogging has become an excellent platform for making a name for oneself and has even become a source of employment. I truly appreciate the guts of all vloggers who have the courage to appear on camera and I acknowledge the immense hard work and struggle they put into it. We should all appreciate them and pray that Allah grants them even more success. We all have a common problem: we get attracted to things very quickly and just as quickly, we accept them without much thought. The result is often destructive. Trends come to us in waves and we all start following them just because someone else did, without considering our own capabilities and capacities. There was a time when we had an Engineering wave and now there is a Doctor wave.Currently,it is the Vlogging wave that everyone is rushing towards. This tendency prevents us from contributing meaningful creativity and productivity to society. Many of our vloggers face the same issue; their content lacks purpose and productivity. I believe there is no value in an art or skill if it doesn’t produce something worthwhile or convey a meaningful message to people. Now, speaking of the content produced by our vloggers, it often revolves around their family, children and home. I fail to see what kind of content this is showing family members,homes,rooms,what they cooked and ate for breakfast, lunch or dinner, what is being made in the kitchen today, revealing their bedrooms to the public and exposing their personal lives. Where is the creativity in this ? I have defined all these things with one term: Bedroom content.’ Some even showcase their weddings and propagate the useless rituals and customs within society, which consequently compel the poor to follow suit and endure hardships. Actually, we Kashmiris have a tendency to be overly concerned with what is happening in other people’s homes and what they are doing, which might explain why vlogging videos get so many views. However, those who have good content, like Imad Clicks, don’t get as many subscribers or views. All our vloggers are talented and have a certain popularity in society. If they conveyed a meaningful message or purpose through their content, people would follow and appreciate it. I believe that the content our vloggers and YouTubers currently produce has a small shelf life. Many YouTubers create timeless content, such as Dr. Israr Ahmed and Sandeep Maheshwari. In Kashmir, we have creators like Imad Clicks, The Umer, Muneer Speaks and numerous comedy channels that set a positive tone in society and showcase true artistry. I think we need to carefully consider our content before creating it. This will ensure it has purpose and creativity and it will most importantly enhance our skills and bring out the best in us.

Danish Aisha is the Convenor of the Centre for Public Interest (CPI), a Kashmir-based independent, non-partisan think tank working on governance, policy reforms, and community empowerment through research and advocacy. He can be reached at centreforpublicinterest@gmail.com