I remember when YouTube first came out. Back then, I mainly associated it with music and silly videos that people created to spark a frenzy. Since then I have been exposed to a myriad of ways in which YouTube is useful. More specifically, with classroom lectures, I have noticed how my professors have incorporated YouTube into lessons to
further elaborate on a given topic of discussion. Being that I am a visual learner, I have found this incorporation to be very helpful in grasping certain ideas and concepts. It also just makes lessons more interesting; being able to take a break from the books to watch a brief clip.
Aside from school, YouTube has been useful in finding tutorials and how-tos for things that I am interested in. The most common thing for me to research online is healthy natural hair and different types of hairstyles. The Southern Tease is one hairstyle in particular in which I am still trying to work out. The following video is one that I refer to when experimenting with this hairstyle:
This video and similar videos help me to actually see the process of creating hairstyles instead of just reading about how to create hairstyles. Other than hair tutorials, I find YouTube useful for listening to music and studying how artists perform different songs. Being a music minor (voice) for a time in undergraduate school, I would often look up videos of performers who I admired, such as Denyce Graves. Her performance of The Lord’s Prayer is one in particular that I was strongly drawn to.
YouTube has proven to be a resourceful tool for both educational and personal uses. It has found its way into my daily life on occasion, as I have used it as a search engine when looking for specific information. I’ve also noticed that when I conduct Google searches, some of the first few results that pop up are YouTube videos. This just goes to shoe the resourcefulness of YouTube. Even when you don’t think you need it, it shows up to be useful anyhow.
