By: MacKenzie Taylor
To some people, the concept of feeling connected to someone that you’ve watched for hours and hours on a computer or phone screen might seem really strange. To me, however, this would seem completely normal. I’ve encountered conversations where I’ve tried to explain to people how I feel about the different YouTubers I watch, and sometimes the only response I get in return is confusion and occasionally judgement. Some people have a hard time understanding how you can have a connection with someone that you’ve never even met. It does happen though, and it has happened to me multiple times. I usually don’t realize the full extent of the connection until I see these people in person. This was definitely the case when I attended Jacksepticeye’s (YouTube username) “How Did We Get Here?” tour in Albuquerque a little less than two weeks ago.
Sean McLoughlin is Jacksepticeye, a 28-year-old Irish YouTuber who is most well-known for his gaming videos. McLoughlin has been actively uploading videos on YouTube since 2012, and since then his channel has gained 20 million subscribers and 10 billion views. Most of his viewers know him as Jack because that’s what he goes by on his channel. Late last year, he decided to put together a live show to take on tour. The “How Did We Get Here?” tour started out with three U.S. shows between September and October. In 2018, he decided to expand the tour and do a total of 26 U.S. shows between March and September.
I had been watching McLoughlin since 2014, and at the time his channel was at 200 thousand subscribers. At first, the channel was just a nice distraction and a place I could go when I needed a laugh. As I continued watching McLoughlin, however, it became very apparent to me that there was a person behind the channel. I began to see someone who was so genuine and humble, and who treated his viewers like they were his friends. McLoughlin became that friend that I would go to when I was sad or lonely, because I could just hang out and watch him play a video game, or watch his vlogs because they made me feel like I wasn’t as alone as I sometimes thought. I even met one of my best friends because we shared a mutual interest in his channel.
McLoughlin’s fanbase was a lot smaller a few years ago, and I had the opportunity to interact with him on social media. He would take the time to tweet me back or comment on gifs that I had made for him. He genuinely cared about the connection that he shared with the people on the other side of the screen and there was a real bond there.
When the Albuquerque show was announced, I was honestly shocked. I remember hearing him say the date and location in a video and my initial reaction was to tear up. Someone that I had admired and been watching for over four years was coming to my state, and I would finally have the chance that I had been dreaming about. I would be able to see him in person. I bought my ticket the moment they went on sale and even sprung for the VIP option so that I would get to be a part of the Q&A session before the show.
The day of the show I was feeling a lot of anxiety. Most of it was excitement, but there were some nerves as well. There was a fear that maybe everything wouldn’t live up to the expectations that I had built up inside my head. That fear was dashed the moment McLoughlin walked onto the stage. I felt all the excitement and overwhelming emotion of finally getting to meet an Internet friend in person for the first time. There was just this energy and warmth immediately radiating from him, and I had an idiotic grin on my face from the time he walked out until he walked off the stage at the end of the night.
The show was incredible, and I really appreciated McLoughlin for allowing the audience a glimpse into his life as he told his story of where he started and how he got to where he is now. McLoughlin had recently opened up on YouTube at the end of 2017 about struggling with his mental health. During the show he even shared that he started his channel because he felt lonely and wanted to find friends who enjoyed the same things he did.
At the start of 2018, McLoughlin decided his motto for the year was going to be “Positive Mental Attitude” or PMA. He continued to push this motto as the year went on and the community behind his channel really embraced this concept. When it was almost time for McLoughlin to come on stage, everyone in the audience began chanting, “PMA!”, as loud as they possibly could. I felt so incredibly proud to be a part of a community that was so focused on spreading this message, and I was chanting right along with them.
McLoughlin opened the show with a prerecorded video, and right before he walks out he makes a deal with the audience. The deal is that if the audience comes out from behind their screens, then McLoughlin will come out from behind his. The combination of his words and his entrance immediately after had me sitting there in awe for a moment. I hadn’t just been mindlessly watching a person behind a screen for the last four years. Someone I had never met before suddenly felt like an old friend. There was a connection there, and it was as real as the Irishman standing in front of me.