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YouTube: Why Students Love It, and Why You Might Too

The art of procrastination is as old as Mount Holyoke. In the early years, students listened to the radio or chatted with their neighbors instead of starting a paper. Today we also have all the dangers of procrastination that come with the World Wide Web. Among the most lethal is YouTube.

A popular Web site that allows users to share videos for free, YouTube engages viewers with activism, tutorials, television shows, political debates, music, and home videos. You simply type a few keywords into the search engine and wait for it to retrieve relevant videos.

The site includes both commercial productions, like clips from the television show “So You Think You Can Dance,” and independent films and home videos. You can listen to music for free online before buying it. You can also find entire episodes of television shows on YouTube.

For students, it’s a great way to keep track of what’s going on outside the Mount Holyoke academic bubble as well as an inexpensive way to access different forms of entertainment. It’s common to find a group of students clustered around a computer taking turns showing their friends their latest YouTube finds.

YouTube has MHC-specific applications, as well. For example, if you search “Mount Holyoke College” on YouTube, you will find videos of the Laurel Parade from different years, and a clip of the trees near Lower Lake in full bloom. YouTube is also a great way to learn something practical, such as honing your skills in tai chi or learning to play a musical instrument. And there’s even a program that helps nonprofits spread word of their organizations’ goals and activities.

As we push into this age of new media, Web sites like YouTube are becoming more relevant—and prevalent—in day-to-day life. YouTube’s popularity and use have skyrocketed since my first year at MHC. It makes me wonder what tools of procrastination will be available to the class of 2020.—Anindita Dasgupta ’08