Social media sites and video-sharing platforms have become the photo albums of the digital age, portals into our past that remind us of the good, the bad, and the crushing weight of time that robs us of our very essence. It’s likely, though, that people won’t be spending too much time revisiting 2020, given that one can only glean so much from dim bathroom selfies and pics of the pool party where you got COVID. YouTube agrees, apparently, as it has released a statement today saying its annual “Rewind” video is taking the year off.
Since 2010, YouTube’s gathered a number of its most popular personalities to highlight the year’s trends and, we imagine, divert attention from the swarms of white supremacists and pedophiles gaming its algorithm. Here’s last year’s and here’s 2018's, one of the most hated videos ever published on the site.
This year, though, they’re “taking a break.”