Life hacks: silly or serious?

Art by Joleen Cardoza

“Do it yourself”- what I tell my sister when she asks me to do something. Oh yes, it’s also a pretty popular thing more commonly known as DIY. This just means doing things yourself, whether it be making a DIY phone stand or DIY shelf. With DIY also comes life hacks that, of course, you can do yourself. Now, we ordinary people do not just think of hacks ourselves, which is why we turn to YouTube. Our lovely friends at 5-minute crafts, Troom Troom, 123GO!, and many other DIY life hack YouTube channels definitely give us something. Sometimes we get great inspiration, however many times we just watch the videos to get a good laugh. So, do these channels intend to be funny? Or do we just get a kick out of the hacks they carefully create for us?

Right off the bat, checking out life hack YouTube channels, you are swarmed with clickbaity thumbnails. Some have pop-it cars, and others have mini toilet paper rings. I mean, who wouldn’t want either of those things? Clearly, these thumbnails are effective, as these channels rake in millions of views on each video! But, what does this have to do with real life? Why would I cut into my big among us pop it to make flip flops?

These videos are very funny. Of course, you either have your classic narrator or royalty-free YouTube music. Then you see characters making funny faces and struggling with somewhat simple tasks and overcomplicating them. Sometimes they even use tools or materials that no soul owns. I always find myself wanting to watch these videos to laugh, rather than to get inspiration for a craft.

Many people, like me, also watch these videos for humor. Notable YouTubers record reactions to the silly craft or videos trying the actual crafts. Easy content, am I right? In fact, these videos are ridiculed a lot. However, some videos actually have good crafts that are very helpful and inspiring. They are very hard to come across, though.

My curiosity was spiked over whether these videos were intended to be funny or serious, so I reached out to the company behind 123GO!, 5 Minute Crafts, and a few other big YouTube channels. Using the embarrassing email I created when I was eight years old, I emailed them. I was very frank, asking whether they intend to be funny or serious in their videos. Honestly, I did not expect a response, but to my surprise, I received a great one!

So, will we find out once and for all how these life hack videos are meant to be perceived? According to an employee at The Soul Publishing (the brand owning many life hack YouTube channels), “You will find a lot of things that are useful in your daily life, since we focus on relatable situations… but we are not aiming to be taken seriously all the time. The goal is to be entertaining and make you laugh!”

I was hoping to receive this answer, and I’m glad I did. I would be extremely worried if they genuinely make some of their videos seriously. Sometimes, I see such ridiculous hacks, so it’s very reassuring to know that they like to be silly in their videos.

And there you have it! While trying to provide good DIY life hacks to help you in life, these channels have no problem throwing in silly hacks that’ll make you smile. Next time you watch life hack videos and you see someone put a raw egg in their mouth to get rid of a sore throat, just remember, they want to make you laugh!