Vlogbrothers: How Nerds Brought Kindness to the Internet

I Heart This

Sometimes it seems like the world would be better off without the internet. What do we do when the technologies that promised to connect us, divide us instead? What do we do when the internet spawns trolls and bullies and misinformation? What would it take to make the internet … kind? In today’s episode:

• two different teens whose lives were changed by the internet in very different ways
• the story of how Hank and John Green built a social media empire out of curiosity, empathy, and hope
• and what we can learn from them about building an internet that we really want to be part of

Esther Earl's YouTube Channel

The Vlogbrothers

Rebecca Black's YouTube Channel

References

Earl, E. (2010). cookie4monster4. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdZb9xjim9qjnIwAuQpvWJA

Earl, W. (2013, January 16). Dying is Inevitable. Living is Not: Wayne Earl at TEDxYouth@SanDiego. YouTube; TEDxYouth@SanDiego. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqqh5KhYhGM

Holmes, L. (2011, March 18). Ridiculed YouTube singer Rebecca Black grabs a mountain of bull by the horns. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2011/03/18/134652534/ridiculed-youtube-singer-rebecca-black-grabs-a-mountain-of-bull-by-the-horns

Moss, C. (2014, June 8). Esther Earl inspired The Fault In Our Stars. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/esther-earl-inspired-the-fault-in-our-stars-2014-6

Paunil, J. (2021, February 10). The “Friday” music video went viral 10 years ago. Rebecca Black has spent the last decade recovering.. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/gender-identity/the-friday-music-video-went-viral-10-years-ago-rebecca-black-has-spent-the-last-decade-recovering/

Talbot, M. (2014). The teen whisperer. The New Yorker, 90(16), 60. Gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A370885126/GPS?u=vol_b733s&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=2206e864

Image Credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Vlogbrothers_2021.jpg