NEED FOR SPEED

For today's young stars of the screen, the line between public and private is fast disappearing. Darren Watkins is one: as controversial YouTuber IShowSpeed, the Ohioan teen shares an estimated 70% of his life with his millions of fans. But how does it feel to grow up online in today's 24/7 streaming culture?

NICOLAIA RIPS

“I'M LIVE EVERY DAY” reads the header on one of IShowSpeed's YouTube channels. The phrase could be confusing – ‘live’ versus ‘live’; different words with the same spelling. Live, a verb, to be alive. Live, an adjective, to occur currently, a show happening as it is broadcast. For Ohio-born streamer Darren Watkins Jr, there is no difference between the two. He is live every day. At the time of writing, Watkins has 24.2m followers on his main YouTube account (plus another 11m and change on his auxiliary accounts, Speedy Boykins and Live Speedy), 16.2m on Instagram and 25m on Tiktok. He has 1.3k videos on his main YouTube. By his own estimate, Watkins livestreams 70% of his life. He's the most subscribed-to Englishspeaking streamer on YouTube. He is also just…

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Dazed & Confused (Digital) - 1 Issue, Summer 2024

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