Rabbitholed #26: The "Golden Boy of the Internet" Disappeared for 9 Months—and Returned This Week to Say "Part of Me Just Wants to Die Sometimes, All of the Time"

What is social media doing to mental health? Look no further than the return video of a 23-year-old Youtuber with nearly 1.5 million followers who finally dropped the mask of having it all together.

Today’s Rabbithole:

In one week in 2020, he went from 600,000 YouTube subscribers to more than 1 million. Fans describe his return to the platform this week as being an eye-opening jolt to understanding just how deeply their parasocial relationship with their favorite influencers goes. “Okay,” he begins his return soliloquy, speaking to the camera solemnly, “the video you’re about to watch is not edited at all.” He holds up the Gold Play Button that YouTube awarded him for reaching more than 1,000,000 subscribers and says, “Every time I walk past here thinking about the fact that it’s now been 9 months, I think, without a video—and why not talk about it?”