{"id":11476,"date":"2022-08-03T14:52:33","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T14:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/03\/desk-setup-videos-have-taken-over-youtube-and-my-life\/"},"modified":"2022-08-03T14:52:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T14:52:35","slug":"desk-setup-videos-have-taken-over-youtube-and-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/03\/desk-setup-videos-have-taken-over-youtube-and-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Desk setup videos have taken over YouTube \u2014 and my life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/23272016\/youtube-desk-setup-home-office-videos<\/a>
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It all started \u2014 for me at least \u2014 with a desk mat. In the early days of the pandemic, like millions of others, I was suddenly working from home every day and needed to turn a tiny corner of my living room into a usable home office. I wanted to buy a desk mat so my keyboard and mouse wouldn\u2019t slide around or scratch up my desk. I bought the cheapest one I could find on Amazon, but it was too small. A bigger one started to pill and tear almost immediately.<\/p>\n

So I turned to YouTube, and I started watching desk setup videos. And for the next couple of years, I\u2019ve really never stopped. I watched as more creators entered the space, looking for inventive new ways to help viewers deck out their own spaces \u2014 large, small, cheap, luxurious, and everything in between. I watched as small creators suddenly became big creators, landing sponsorship deals with the companies behind the products in their videos. I watched as a certain aesthetic, with dark walls and natural wood and Apple products \u2014 always Apple products \u2014 everywhere, took over the space. I watched even well after I needed any help in my own home office. <\/p>\n

Even as many people go back to the office, DeskTube (as I like to call it) continues to thrive. Remote work obviously isn\u2019t going away, and the pandemic has also made people much more aware of the spaces they occupy and how they can be better. Plus, there\u2019s just something delightful \u2014 and even sort of soothing \u2014 about watching someone show you the way they\u2019ve perfectly optimized their space. It says, yes, the world is chaos, but in this tiny part of it that I control, everything can be in its right place. And that counts for something.<\/p>\n

Show and tell<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Showing off your sick workspace is a longtime mainstay of internet culture. Gamers around the world have gone to subreddits like r\/battlestations<\/a> (and r\/shittybattlestations<\/a>) to find inspiration for their own RGB setups and PC builds. Pinterest is teeming<\/a> with beautifully<\/a> curated desks<\/a> looking out at gorgeous views<\/a>. And if you\u2019re a creator on the internet, it\u2019s practically a job requirement to post the view from your chair so your audience can picture you on the job \u2014 and steal the magic for themselves. Heck, go back far enough, and even Albert Einstein\u2019s messy desk<\/a> was an object of fascination.<\/p>\n

DeskTube is not a new phenomenon, nor is it a pandemic-created one. \u201cI think the first [setup video] I did was in 2013,\u201d says Justin Tse, a longtime tech YouTuber who has become one of the best-known desk setup creators. Tse, then just a teenager, had spent a bunch of time and energy building out a gaming and work desk \u2014 MacBook Pro, Asus monitors, Logitech keyboard and mouse, a nifty \u201chistory of Apple\u201d poster \u2014 and thought it\u2019d be cool to show people. That first setup tour<\/a> came about 15 months and dozens of videos into the life of his channel but almost immediately became one of his biggest ever videos. So a bit over a year later, Tse made another one<\/a>, with some big upgrades: an Apple Thunderbolt Display, a Samsung monitor, and a Mac Pro. That one hit, too. So he made more. And more.<\/p>\n

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