Undoubtedly, streaming is special. Once you start to stream, your life changes. Suddenly, you host your own show for the whole World from your bedroom. You start expressing yourself more clearly, care to be more creative and entertaining, talk to people from different continents and improve skills like gaming. Many people find the process of growing their channel very emotional. Personally, I’ve seen people happy and sad cry on Twitch and I’ve been watching other streamers for less than three months. If you’ve been in the streaming environment for a while, you must have noticed people feeling down about their streams. Or maybe you have yourself. If you have, that’s okay, I have too. So, what is the link between streaming and low self esteem?
Streaming with few viewers can cause low self esteem
Unfortunately, many people fall into the trap of being too attached to their viewership count. When starting, it is natural to have almost no viewers. This can be especially frustrating when a streamer broadcast to talk to people rather than show off their skills or narrate the playthrough. Streaming to no viewers for months or even years is not uncommon. Consequently, after some time a fraction of these streamers conclude they are not good enough and quit.
Also, a large amount of people seem to be fixated about getting monetized. Facebook groups and Twitter hashtags are overloaded with stream reports showing that 0.5 average viewer left to become affiliate on Twitch. Furthermore, some of them are begging you to join their streams or even suggesting giving up. However, often those people don’t even need money. Incentives like channel coin rewards, custom emotes and subscriber logos impact small streamers to the extent that they are ashamed of their streams. For instance, they rarely invite more successful streamer friends to their streams as they feel less attention-worthy. (Hernandez, 2018)
Some streamers would just compare their viewership to others’ forever, and that is definitely not healthy. Believe it or not, people would get low self esteem from streaming to only 20 people. On the other hand, same people would have never had so many people paying attention to them in their offline life. It’s all about one’s perspective!
Webcam can be a nightmare
Another thing which gives streamers anxiety is their webcam. Society has this pressure to look perfect driving millions to the gyms, plastic surgeons, as well as to use video filters and Photoshop. No wonder why streamers are anxious about how they look while streaming. You can see streamers like Valkyrae or Dr DisRespect always looking flawless and confident, while you’re just sitting there with no visible eyes and double chin. Yes, a good lighting, the right angle and a high quality cam can help a lot. However, who has the skill to control such things while playing a shooter like Apex Legends! As you can imagine, watching vods is a nightmare for perfectionists. Therefore, numerous streamers are questioning their looks or even if they should use webcams.
Webcams are not mandatory for streaming, nor is looking perfect. Make your show not about your looks, but about personality or skills, and your life will be way easier!
Followers, subscriptions, donations and peer pressure
Another sad phenomenon is the streaming success obsession. This issue concerns mostly people who jump into broadcasting with the big fame prospect. Once you see your channel grow you are all hyped and expect it get better and better. However, channels hardly ever develop in the constant pace. One or two days without a new follower or subscription may make you wonder what you did wrong. Also, why are the others getting donations and you’re not?! Well, more things than just you and your stream quality determine these things. For instance, you’re streaming two hours later than usually and your European fans are already sleeping. Besides, platforms like Twitch have little things organized, thus random events are common.
Conclusion
Basing your self esteem on streaming achievements is very toxic. People would talk to you and tell you compliments while you stream and that makes you feel this sudden happiness which you can easily get used to. When it goes away, your brain would suggest that something’s wrong and you may feel down. (Rossi & Caretto, 2007) Take time to remind yourself why you’re streaming and of those people who have expressed their support for you. Remember, nobody’s perfect and you’re doing it for fun! Unless, you don’t. Then, I suggest getting another job. 😉
