I feel old.

I got my first computer in 2002, it was an old Windows Me given too me by an elderly neighbour who's son had bought it for her but she didn't know how to use it.

2002 - 2003 - Age 6-7

The only Internet I had access to was my friends, it was the classic 'I hope Mam doesn't need to use the phone anytime soon' situation.

So at home I stuck to Paint and Solitaire

2004 - Age 8

miniclip.com

When I first got the internet it was still on my old Computer and in the 'computer room', yes it was that big and bulky it needed it's own room! We used NTLworld (I don't think that even exists anymore) and all I did was play games online that my cousin showed me.

funny-games.biz

2005- Age 9
This is the year I realised online multiplay games existed such as Habbo hotel (UK and US). I spent far too much time and money on this website, it was literally running around an imaginary hotel but what made it fun was talking to compete strangers.


2006 - Age 10

The stage that complely changed my life, I found Youtube!I found Youtube when I was looking for music and for the longest time I didn't realise things other than music and interviews existed on the entire website. Then I started finding Youtube singers such as Savvannah Outen, this lead me to a whole subgenre which still interests me today.

I also created my own Youtube channel (now deleted due to embarrassment) with the user name 'rachelwetting', why? Because my normal name was taken and it gave me that as the first suggestion and I just really needed to post that important comment!

2007 - Age 11

I created Facebook (slightly under the age limit) but I swear I only made it to play games! In particular Bowling Buddies, I played it on my Mam's account and in the end got my own account to play it on, the condition being I only add family. So for about a year I only had family on there and promptly beat them at every Facebook game that existed at the time. 

Although my Facebook says my first status was in 2008 I can assure you it was 2007 as I specifically remember this status being about my induction week at Secondary School (Which I went on to hate for 5 years, so I got the annoyance spot on)

Around this time I also started playing bigger online games such as Runescape, I followed around my cousin who was already really highly ranked picking up all the stuff he didn't want and having him make me high level weapons that I couldn't yet make to level up quicker.

I also found the Mean Kitty song and SMPFilms, this defined my life for the next year and was the best ringtone I ever had.

2008 - Age 12

Was a bit of a blur, I didn't really create anything new.

Well except a personal website but after many phone calls back in 2011 it has now been taken down. What a shame....

2009 - Age 13

Created in 2009 my Twitter has been through many name changes over the years but I've met some great friends from all over the world and can 'stalk' some celebrities at the same time.

I also discovered the amazing Team Starkid, the creators of a Very Potter Musical series. Yes they created a Harry Potter Musical and put it on Youtube. I was rather happy.

2010 - Age 14

I remember going back to Habbo Hotel in this very dark time, it was how I 'bonded' with he guys in my class. I was the only girl in my class so playing video games was a great way to make friends with them, plus it gave me a reason to play video games. I also found a website that wasn't blocked on my schools network meaning I could play Balloons Tower Defence whenever I wanted. I became a bit of a Pro at that game. I even found my old account and here are my achievements after I spent a good chunk of my school years logged in doing 'work' (I still got an A in that class, so it didn't hinder anything!).



2011 - Age 15

My Youtube journey continued with the discovery of the UK's No1 Vlogger, Charlie McDonnell (Charlieissocoollike).  I also started finding more people but none of them really caught my attention so I never subscribed, I wish had looking back on it because some of them (Such as Evan Edinger) have quickly became my favourites now so it would have been nice to give their channels a go back then, but I'm subscribed now and that's all that matters.

It was also around this time I created my first Tumblr account - probably not my finest move. I do remember my first URL being 'lifeofaninjanerd' I think the joke was I was nowhere near Ninja standard but went with it anyway.

Today I have 5 blogs, 1 main blog and 4 sub-blogs, as well as around 15 saved domains. It kind of took over my life. Never do it. You get sucked in. It's not pretty. Run

2012 - Age 16

I created a new 'serious' channel, a lot of videos are now private, I have around 40 videos uploaded with a total of 7,000 views, but only 11 of those are public. I was trying to find my niche when it came to video making as I had just found this whole community of Video Bloggers that for years I hadn't known existed. The fact that people blogged via video fascinated me and I really wanted to take part, the problem was I didn't really know what I waned to do.

I found people like Danisnotonfire, AmazingPhil, VlogBrothers, Tyler Oakley and TomSka, and I wanted to be like them; a bit cliche I know but it's what teenage Rachel wanted to do with her life.

I also created a very short stop-motion about a spider for a competition on Vine, but never uploaded it because I never though a site so 'stupid' would ever take off.  Not my wisest decision.

2013 - Age 17

It was around this time that I started using Instagram, not very much but I use it more so now than I did before. However it's not one of those accounts I must update daily or must check or I go slightly insane. I did recently go on a following spree that I slightly regret, so many posts....

2014 - Age 18

Everything I've wrote about already has influenced where I am today, I would never have considered a career in Digital Video if I had never seen those first Youtube videos back in 2006. When I was at college I started making videos about exams and results day because when I panic I research (if you haven't guesses already) so I knew basically everything there was too know about every outcome. Now I have a part time job as a University Video Blogger - not bad right?



I just want to point out that I'm very close to the camera because I hadn't told my flat mates I was making a video so I didn't want them to hear me talking to myself and think I'm going mad. #FirstWorldInternetProblems

Also Shameless plug.

Internet friends and Hakuna Matata

Taken from my Instagram; #LionKing15

Yesterday I met someone who I've known for 5 years but never actually met.

I met Nia over Twitter back in 2009 after we both ended up in a conversation with the same person and they mixed up our usernames which lead to us getting really confused. After tweeting for a while we realised that we both loved the same things (thankfully these things changed over the years!), but we also learnt that we lived on opposite sides of the country, different countries in fact. Nia is from Wales so meeting up was completely out of the question so we stuck to tweeting, as in those really annoying twitter conversations (I'm not even sorry), plus Facebook and Skype.


All the way through school and college we would talk just about life, mainly complaining about being in school or college and it was nice, like having an internet best friend. Once we figured out we both were not murderers we started joking about meeting up and going to different nerdy conventions but we both knew it just wouldn't work out. But a few months ago that changed, we figured out both of us would be living either in London or within travelling distance. Then our conversations started getting more and more serious about meeting up, mainly to see a show on the West End as we are both massive theatre geeks. Money and timing wasn't working in our favour so we decided to leave it for a while longer but last Monday I got a message from her asking what I was doing at the weekend.

The latest tweet I can find is from a band member we used to idolise
back in April 2011!

It turns out she had managed to get Lion King 15th Anniversary tickets and not only were they good seats - they were free!


Now I've never really been interested in Lion King on stage after seeing a failed amateur production a

few years ago, but I was so excited to see the actual version I was practically bouncing all the way to Waterloo. Not only was the show amazing but it also gave me and Nia something to break the ice with, you see, seeing someone in person when you normally talking in 140 characters is really freaking weird.

It was great going to the theatre with someone who loved the theatre as much, if not more, than I do. We could talk about the set (She is a prop design student), the costumes, the story and the actors - it was just a really fun day overall.

I didn't get to stay long in London but the time I spent there was unbelievably awesome and I got the celebrate Lion Kings birthday with confetti and some Rhinos, life could be worse.

During the Curtain Call they had confetti explode over the audience, this isn't my photo as my phone wasn't quick enough turning back on after the show!

Burgers - Family Flat Night

Every Sunday night is 'Family Flat Night' in my flat because every other night of the week our flat is taken over by 'Team 79' and 'Team Europe', which loosely translates to 'people who don't actually live in flat 81'. (We have a better kitchen and we too nice to make them leave, they practically live with us now.)

So each Saturday we consult the list of 'Things Ben doesn't know how to cook' and choose what we are going to teach him the next day and eat together. This is not only a really good way of eating (This meal cost us £1.20 each) we are also teaching Ben that yes - Burgers are in face made of mince.

Creative Challenge

So a few days ago I got an email from Uni talking about an extra curricular called the 'Creative Challenge' in which a group of students from across all campus' take a creative idea and carry through multiple stages to it's possible creation. Now when I signed up I didn't realise I needed an idea ready to pitch on that day (3 days time) and panicked.

I started scribbling down ideas at around 12am when I had just finished watching Emma Watsons UN speech on Feminism (my last post about it, honestly, it's just a coincidence). The brief was to do something to help people, now my creative outlet is videos and I look up to Youtubers a great deal. One of those Youtubers is Carrie Hope Fletcher, she makes videos about her life and advice videos requested by her teen audience. She also calls herself your 'honorary big sister' so you can write to her about your life and she will reply even though she has over 500,000 subscribers.

My initial idea was to create a network of girls from different backgrounds to just talk about their lives, how they dealt with specific situations and just give and overview on what someone is a similar situation can do. Just be a role model for young girls, main stream media is all about pulling apart young girls self esteem why can't non-main stream media be the exact opposite.  

Now this spiralled into, once again, a political ideology and produced a list of touchy subjects to be made into documentaries and self-help guides.

Pretty deep for a person who was blogging about dragons and magical worlds a few posts ago.

The back of my notebook from 12am Monday morning.

Yes I Skype my Dog.

So I moved away from home just over two weeks ago and I've been Skyping home every few days to catch up with my Parents and my dog. Slowly but surely my Dog has realised that I'm actually in the computer and that I can see her, she's now started licking the screen, giving me her paw tapping the keyboard and dropping her teddies on the keyboard for me to play with her.

Here is a montage of our Skype call last night!

The internet isn’t as safe as it used to be. A rant on Feminism.

I live my life through the internet, there isn’t a day that I don’t check Tumblr/Twitter/Youtube so I’m constantly surrounded by people who have made a living off those websites, meaning they have a rather large fanbase but no real team around them, it’s just them.  Now I have always believed being in complete control of your own work on the internet is by far the best thing however in light of recent events I’ve began to reconsider.

Tom Milsom

Mike Lomardo

Since March 2014 stories about famous Youtubers abusing their position as role models for young fans have surfaced for 20 different people. This is outrageous and it’s starting to hit closer and close to home.

1 Tom Milsom

Accusation: Raping his 15 year old girlfriend when he was 22

2 Mike Lombardo

Accusation: Abusive in a relationship

Alex Day

3 Alex Day

Accusation: Abusive in a relationship, approaching underage girls, non consensual sexual advances

Josh Macdeo

4 Josh Macedo

Accusation: Non consensual sexual advances on underage girls

Kelly Montoya

5 Kelly Montoya

Accusation: Rape and sexual abuse

6 Danny Hooper
Accusation: Rape of 15 year old girl

Danny Hooper

Alex Carpenter

7 Alex Carpenter
Accusation: Non consensual sexual advances on a 16 year old girl, he was 25.

8 Adam Roach

Accusation: Underage sexual abuse, she was 15 he was 22.

Luke Conard

9 Luke Conard

Accusation: Abusive underage relationship, 7 year age gap

The list goes on…..

Recently Sam Pepper and Jason (VeeOneEye) have been ‘outed’ as rapists and sexual abusers but the difference with these guys are, they tried to cover it up.

Sam Pepper

 Sam Pepper made a video where he went around London pinching women’s butts for a ‘prank’, this caught the Youtube communities attention to the point people realised that his past videos (which include lassoing women in the street, forcing women to kiss him on the beach) are also sexual abuse. Sam Pepper however tried to cover it up by saying the entire thing was staged and proceeded to upload 2 extra to parts to his latest video, a behind the scenes film and a vlog in which he explains the entire thing was to highlight MALE sexual harassment. However it seems to be brilliant timing that these two videos appeared after the Youtube community had already blacklisted him.  When Youtube Feminist Laci Green posted an open letter to Sam Pepper she instantly got a huge 100,000 strong following including Youtube big names Hank and John Green. This then made Sam Pepper threaten Laci about making a video on the subject, which she thankfully did anyway.

VeeOneEye

With Jason VeeOneEye he acknowledged that what he did (as described in a video by a victim, Animagas) however he used his Mormon (Seen here in his unlisted, non advertised appology video) upbringing and social awkwardness as an excuse and still tried to act as he did nothing wrong.  However more and more people started coming forward with accusations of rape and sexual advances

Both Sam and Jason now have court cases against them and have been dropped by their Youtube Label.

Personally this hit home for me when a Youtuber I look up too a lot Evan Edinger uploaded a video in which he broke down because he was very good friends with Jason and had done nothing about the things he was doing.  Now I am very much aware that he is not a victim but something I want to bring to light is how people who manipulate people sexually also manipulate those around them.

Now this is about Feminism honest, I am so proud of the self proclaimed Feminists on Youtube standing up for what it right and blacklisting these people from what is essentially a very safe and loving community. Feminists (who seem to be the only social group talking) on Youtube and other social networking sites, who are ENGAGING IN THE CONVERSATION, have been getting hate from Youtube fans who don’t want to believe their idols are flawed or who, sadly, don’t see a problem in what they have done.

Personally I have received a lot of hate on the topic but I am in no way ashamed of talking about it and I can’t sing the praises of the big Youtubers who are also engaging in the conversation, at the possible price of their fanbase, enough. Taking about it is the only way it will be fixed and I urge everyone to learn and listen too as many people as possible on the topic.

A personal favourite, Consent, a Youtube music video by Comedy Duo OMFGit'sJackandDean

                                      

More video’s have been created by big name Youtubers on the topic

Video: Lex made a video about what CONSENT means.
Video: Hank Green made a video about CONSENT.
Video: The Science and Dangers of YouTube Celebrity.
Video: TomSka’s Guide to Gatherings.
Video: Charlie McDonnell: Sex & Consent.
Video: Bryarly Bisop: We Are Edited.
Video: Laci Green: Consent 101.

Video: Lidsey: What is Emotional Abuse? 

Video: YouTuve Abuse Recovery | Ann McGavin (thegeekyblonde).
Video: Sexual Abuse on YouTube | Pottermoosh.
Video: Tell Someone | abb3rz07.
Video: Wrongdoings and Growth in Our Community | Teryn Gray.
Video: UNDERAGE SEX & CONSENT | hayleyghoover

Video: Women on YouTube Panel at VidCon 2014

Video: Marinashutup’s video on the topic.

Now this isn’t a fun post but it was a post I was going to write anyway on my personal blog and I decided the more platforms this is seen on the better - it's also happened to be something that happened in September!

If you would like to read more, there is a Tumblr master post listing links to every accusation, acknowledgement, apology and video here.