Student balances
college life +
YouTube fame
Youtuber Rachel Jones deals with the challenge of keeping up with her studies and 66,000 subscribers
By Hannah Hawk || Winter 2018
Living a secret, famous, double life like Hannah Montana is something most girls would dream of and it’s something college film major and YouTuber Rachel Jones lives through. At first glance, Jones looks like your typical college student, but she lives a whole different life online with her YouTube channel: actingislitmylife. With a total of 66,000 subscribers, she uses most of the YouTube money she makes to support her in college.
“I definitely didn’t think I would get so many subscribers. I knew I wanted to do YouTube from the beginning when I got my first camera, which I still have, “ Jones said. “It’s just a number for me that represents my support team and keeps me going.” The balancing act Jones does trying to find the time between filming YouTube videos, going to classes, replying to fans and doing homework can be a challenge. “That is the main reason I don’t post as frequently. I used to have so much freedom in high school, but here there’s always something else I should be doing like homework, being social or taking a nap.
That is more important to me than uploading videos which can be bad, because that’s kind of my job,” she said. The pressure to upload and please so many people on the internet could only adds to the stress of normal college life. “I don’t necessarily regret making my channel, but I feel a lot of pressure for how many people are depending on me and I always feel bad for not posting. I kind of wish it hadn’t become a job for me, but at the same time I’m very grateful for it,”
Jones said. She does make money off of her channel, but it isn’t enough to make a real living, so she’s continuing her education through college classes. “When you start you want to make a little money off of it since you’re working so hard and you want a little bit of a reward. But, I would do it for free if I could,” she said. “Money was never really on my mind since acting is such a passion to me.
The money is nice and keeps me motivated a bit but it’s not necessary.” Although Jones keeps a lot of her personal information off of YouTube, there is always the chance of being recognized. “I’ve been recognized twice. Once at a play on campus. She asked if it was me and we got a picture together,” Jones said. YouTube itself is a very temporary thing. It’s something that can go away or become less popular at any time. For instance, Jones could get less views one month and not get paid as much as she usually does. Yet, she says she lives a very normal college life in the dorms with roommates.
“Some people might think it’s crazy living with a YouTuber, but it’s pretty normal, except when I walk in and she’s filming,” junior education major Kasey Madsen said. In some ways, YouTube can conflict with other things in people’s lives and could change how people see the person. “I usually only see her as a friend or roommate. I sometimes forget she has a YouTube channel all together. So in my eyes, I treat her equally as all my other roommates,” Madsen said. Jones still goes to acting classes and learns from professors at school. Some of her classmates know about her channel as well. “Watching the behind-the-scene films and her audition videos have been educational, but I feel as though I learn the most in person with her then through her videos,” said Audrey Craddick, a junior musical theater major
