Liat Nosrati
Since February 2005, I’ve been thankful for a little Web site called YouTube.com.Ever wanted to learn how to play chess? Or maybe you’d like to master the art of origami. No worries, it’s all on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. There’s more to YouTube than music videos. It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in front of my television, eyes glazed over, wishing that there was something more to life than “Flavor of Love.” OK, so that was yesterday, but things are a little different now that YouTube is around to pick up the slack that those big network stations call “entertainment.” People sing along horribly to their favorite tunes on video. Now that’s entertainment. But it doesn’t end there. People have actually become famous from posting videos of themselves on YouTube. It is a glorious thing when friends can put together a bunch of funny videos, post them on YouTube and by the end of the week, have thousands of followers. A perfect example of this would be Smosh.The duo consists of 20-year-old college students Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla, who, together, go by the nickname Smosh. With approximately 346,000 subscribers, Smosh is the No. 1 most subscribed YouTube channel of all time. Smosh is pretty funny, but amusing videos are not the only thing you will find on YouTube. Some of the videos on YouTube help spread awareness about issues that some college students are not familiar with. Human trafficking and genocide in Darfur are just a couple of those issues.Students can use YouTube to educate themselves when their television isn’t doing such a great job of it. YouTube is free, so why not milk it?So, the next time you find yourself in front of your television screaming, “Hey! I just saw this episode of ‘SpongeBob SquarePants!'” turn on your computer. You never know what you’ll find on YouTube, but maybe America is ready for your big break.