WIRED

YouTube Channel Review

WIRED is the YouTube channel for the magazine of the same name, which focuses primarily on the effects of emerging technology on our everyday lives. That focus on tech is likely why they started a YouTube channel in September 2005—just over seven months after YouTube was founded. Nowadays, the channel itself centers around a wide variety of topics, each focused on celebrities or experts of specific crafts.

In terms of experts, there’s “5 Levels,” where experts in a field explain a subject in their field to people at varying levels of difficulty: typically, a child, then a teen, then a college student, then a graduate student, and finally, another expert.

There’s also “Tech Support,” where masters of a subject answer questions about their topics on Twitter. Furthermore, WIRED brings in experts to analyze the accuracy of film and TV show depictions of their craft in a series called “Technique Critique.”

Another series, called “Obsessed,” focuses on the experts of crafts that likely wouldn’t have a collegiate program certifying their “expert” status. Instead, the subjects of these videos are masters in unique and specific hobbies, such as treasure hunting or Dungeons & Dragons.

For celebrities, viewers can check out “WIRED Autocomplete Interview,” where famous people answer the most popular Google questions regarding them.

Positive Content

WIRED effectively explains many topics by bringing in experts in the subject. Some of these simply put the experts in entertaining videos, such as one which discusses the language structure of various fictional film and TV languages. Others, however, will teach people about important real-world things, such as a dermatologist answering questions about the skin. This is especially true in the channel’s “5 Levels” series, where viewers are introduced to a topic and increasingly given more complex information regarding it.

Content Concerns

Celebrities and experts will swear, and though some of the heavier swears like the f-word are censored, words like “a–,” “h—” and “d–n” are not. God’s name and Jesus’ name are misused, as well. Additionally, when experts answer Twitter questions, the tweets they read aren’t always censored and may contain heavier swears. Some of the interviewees will make the occasional sexual reference.

Some videos will touch on topics that parents may not want their children learning about while at a young age, such as cults or tattoos. Some videos also reference evolution.

Channel Summary

WIRED offers interesting insights by experts into various subjects. Viewers will likely learn a thing or two no matter which video they click on. However, some videos feature mild swearing and some unsavory topics, so families will need to be mindful of that.