Members' Only Team Chat: The Rise, and then Rise Again, of Explainers

I (hi, it's Mike!) saw a video on IG today where someone explained Halloween to me. And not in a way where, at the end, I thought "Wow! I learned something new about Halloween!" The subject matter was Halloween boilerplate: All Hallows Eve, prayers for the dead, Jack-o-lanterns used to be turnips, etc, etc etc. Last week, I saw a number of videos explaining, beat-by-beat, the recent occurrences concerning a lesbian bar in Western, MA detailed in a now viral Boston Globe article.

The internet has always been a place where People Explain Things To Me, but it feels as though in the last 6 months there has been a meaningful uptick in Explanatory Content, specifically in short form video, and specifically concerning subject matter already well-chewed in the maw of discourse.

I take this wholly anecdotal observation to the team and ask: have they seen an increase in Explanatory Content, and if so: what do they think explains it?

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