By G. W., Los Altos
One click is all it takes to access the world. Science, art, video games, and political commentary—these are just some of the topics which the millions of YouTube videos uploaded to the site each day cover. With so much content, what really stands out? For me, it’s Mark Rober. An engineer by trade, he quit jobs at Apple and NASA to fully pursue content creation on YouTube, making informative and engaging videos which represent the best of what YouTube has to offer. Mark Rober is the best YouTube creator because his content educates its audience and raises awareness for humanitarian issues.
Firstly, Mark Rober is the best YouTube creator because his content educates its audience. As a former engineer for Apple and NASA, Rober focuses on spreading his knowledge about the world to others through his seemingly unserious videos. For example, he published a video about the best way to win at the board game Guess Who?, in which you and an opponent both pick one character out of a panel and ask yes or no questions to narrow down which character the opponent picked. At first glance, the video seems to be covering a relatively inconsequential topic. However, Rober uses the topic to discuss statistics, as he uses models to analyze how certain questions will better perform to narrow down in fewer guesses. By incorporating a more complex topic involving math in his innocuous videos, Rober manages to pedagogically connect with his young audience and teach them new things about the world.
Secondly, Mark Rober is the best YouTube creator because his content generates awareness for important global issues. For example, for one of his videos, Rober collaborated with the environmental project Team Seas, which developed a robot with an automated system for waste collection in the sea. In the video, Rober introduces Team Seas and explains how Team Seas developed the robot and how the machinery keeps it running. In doing so, Rober raised awareness for the valuable work which climate activist groups like Team Seas do. This not only recognizes their innovation and dedication but also renews environmental issues in the audience’s minds and encourages everyone to be more environmentally conscious. Additionally, by raising awareness for Team Seas, Rober’s video acted as a crowdfunding campaign which raised millions of dollars in budget for the project. By using his large following to collectively empower those who help the world, Rober uses his platform to give back to society and help make the world a better place to live in.
Some may argue that Rober’s content dumbs down the complex topics that his videos try to touch on. For example, they may assert that by introducing science through kids’ topics, Rober diminishes his own ability to educate his younger audience about science by painting over it with layers of oversimplificatation. However, these dissenters forget that the most notable science educators of our time have all adopted similar strategies. For example, Bill Nye spent over a decade using kids’ science experiments and simple real-world analogies to demonstrate concepts of physics, chemistry, and biology. This teaching method helped millions of children grasp what might be very difficult concepts to learn, simply because they are too intangible and unrelatable for children to understand. Similarly, Rober helps his audience gain a basic understanding of science concepts by relating them to situations which children are more likely to encounter on a daily basis.
Mark Rober’s corner of YouTube shines light at the end of a dark tunnel. On a platform with so much unproductive content, Rober is one of the few who dedicates video-making to bettering the world. He carries the torch from science educators before him and transforms the new YouTube medium into education for kids. He stays aware of his large following and uses it to generate momentum in support of others who are helping to address critical issues around the world. By using the Internet, a place with potential dangers and mind-numbing entertainment, to educate kids about science and adults about global issues, Mark Rober’s content represents a net positive for the world, making him not only a great YouTuber but also an important beacon of optimism in a bleak Internet landscape.