YouTube…a Lifesaver?

In the short amount of time that YouTube has been around, it has morphed from a place to watch goofy videos to a place where you can watch just about anything.  From clips of your favorite TV shows or undiscovered singers to raw footage of natural disasters, you can find a video of just about anything you can think of on YouTube.  It has become a sort of video history of our culture…you can think back about a show you used to watch that doesn’t air anymore, and you’ll most likely find clips or episodes on YouTube.

But it has also developed into a legitimate learning tool.  Educational (‘how to’) videos are uploaded regularly on the site, allowing users to watch as people demonstrate tasks.  While many of these tutorials are meant purely for entertainment, there are some that actually provide educational content.  Cooking videos, for example, are a useful alternative to reading out of a recipe book for new cooks.  You might now know what ‘mince’ means when you read it, but you could watch a YouTube tutorial showing you exactly how to hold your knife and what the finished product should look like.  I tried to think of other videos that might come in handy, and I came across an instructional CPR video.  Now THAT is useful.

While hopefully I will never be in a situation where CPR is necessary, it’s a little comforting to know that if I ever have to use it, I can have a CPR tutorial on my phone in a few seconds, walking me through the steps.  I think things like this make YouTube an effective way of distributing educational materials not only because of the value of having a visual demonstration rather than a written instruction manual, but also because of the speed with which these tutorials can be found.