Unfortunately, Trash Prank Is A Curse We Create Ourselves

Photo illustration (Yudhistira Mahabharata / VOI)

JAKARTA - A YouTuber provokes social media excitement. The act of distributing food wrappers filled with trash to children and transsexuals in Bandung was widely condemned by netizens. The sane reaction, although for us there is something netizens should realize, that YouTubers with junk prank is a curse that we create ourselves.

We will not mention the name of the YouTuber, let alone review the content. There is no stage for him. However, reflecting on what we have done to turn on trash YouTubers of sorts is very important now.

Its content has been reported to the police. The suspect named T has been detained. However, a prime suspect and several other people involved in making the video are still being sought. The velocity of money behind the ridiculousness that he does is clearly tantalizing.

A number of people took advantage of his name exposure in news coverage and conversations on social media. On Instagram, for example. We found several accounts on behalf of the YouTuber. It's hard to be sure which is real. What is clear is that one of the accounts was brought up in the mass media coverage because it stated that it would surrender to the police if its followers reached a certain number.

We try to guess how big the money spin on the YouTube channel is. Referring to the Lifepal site, there are two indicators that can be used to see how much a YouTube channel is earning: Cost Per Mile (CPM) and Cost Per Click (CPC).

The two indicators can only work if a channel has met two conditions, namely an increase in the number of subscribers of at least one thousand within one year and video content on the channel must be watched for at least four thousand hours by all viewers in the same period of time.

Referring from the same site. In 2019, the CPM rate or money earned from a channel reaches IDR 7,000 per thousand ad impressions across videos. Meanwhile, the CPC or nominal that a channel gets from each ad click that appears on the video ranges from IDR 5,000 to IDR 12,000.

Illustration (Ilham Amin / VOI)

So, how much money have we given to the trash parcel prank making channel? Through the socialblade.com site, the channel is recorded to have collected one hundred thousand subscribers with total views reaching 4,955,428. This figure was obtained by 21 videos that he uploaded since December 10, 2019.

One of the videos that invited the most views reached 1.2 million since it was uploaded last April 27. From the video alone, Social Blade recorded an income of around US $ 597 to US $ 4.8 thousand or the equivalent of Rp. 9,002,2760 to Rp. 72,384,000 at an exchange rate of Rp. 15,080 which is valid today.

Meanwhile, overall, the YouTube channel is estimated to generate US $ 552 to US $ 8.8 thousand or the equivalent of Rp. 8,324,160 to Rp. 132,704,000. On all accounts, the YouTuber account is even classified as a Grade B channel. A fantastic achievement for the useless content in it.

Sociological

We talked with a sociologist from the State Islamic University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah, Tantan Hermansyah about this. In Tantan's eyes, there is an interesting reaction that occurs in the community about pranks, how people become linked chains creating the illusion of prank enjoyment.

From the content creator's point of view, addiction is addiction. It triggers extraordinary desire. Dramaturgy theory illustrates this condition. Extreme passion, plus competition among channel managers, drives content creators to modify and innovate their content.

Modifications and innovations that unfortunately plunge many content creators into immoral abyss. The dramaturgy drive is too great to be contained.

"People have to get more cruel or expensive or difficult. Because if it's only repetition, it will certainly be abandoned. In the past, we still remember taking selfies in extreme places. Until finally, many people get hurt because selfies in ordinary places are considered not trendy or ordinary," he said. Tantan when contacted by VOI, Tuesday, May 5.

Tantan proposed adjusting the rules that could be set by the authorities to control the garbage content outbreak. "Why does it need to be regulated? Because it is related to the lives of many people. Society needs entertainment. And entertainment makers can reap the benefits of their creativity," said Tantan.

According to Tantan, the age of convenience quickly lulled people into pseudo-frail pleasures. Right and wrong. Morals and immorality are getting more and more gray. The public reaction to condemn their own creations is a clear picture of the fragility of society today.

"That's society. He has his own laws and sometimes finds out the truth in his own way," said Tantan.

Right, indeed. Access to entertainment is getting easier. YouTube perpetuates the consumption of entertainment on the screens of our personal devices. However, after all, YouTube is just technology. It was created to operate, not operate.

YouTube works with algorithms. No moral balance can replace the role of human reason. Therefore, it is important for us to remain in control of what matters we want to fertilize and preserve in this world.