I’ve recently been a silent watcher, and this comment is late, but I really just want to say thank you. I watched people like Justinebujo and Studyign, and I just wanted to get everything they had. They were my biggest inspiration, their whole RUclips life was so aesthetically pleasing and I wanted to be like them. But as I got the things they had (mild liners and gel pens) I found myself becoming invested in the community and what to buy next, not new study tips or tips on homework. It made my grades drop like crazy, and I passed last school year with c’s, d’s and b minuses. I’ve never felt so unsatisfied with my life until then. Then I found your channel, and you said in a video that aesthetics isn’t everything. I was so mad, I felt as if it were a personal attack on my life. But I’ve had time to reflect on what my values should be, and I’ve become thankful for everything. My budget iPad (which works wonders for me, I love it) my phone (that’s been with me through so much and was the gateway to find so many people I love now) my home (which is lovely and comfortable) and everything else. I’ve managed to dig myself out of a grave of self pity, and it’s thanks to people like you. If I have anything to thank for the study community though, it’s probably them introducing me to fjallraven. It’s expensive at, but I read what that company’s cause is for, and it re-ignited my passion for learning about animals. I know now that I WANT to become a wildlife biologist, and I’m 100% sure about it now. Funny enough though, the first video I watched of the backpack was from you :). Now that my school year started, I’m doing so much better now that I’m not thinking of making everything beautiful. I just listen to the teacher and get my work done, which is the effective learning and studying strategy for me. I’m sorry that this was so long to read, if any of you did read it, I just wanted to get that off of my chest (sorry for any grammar mistakes as well). I just really appreciate you helping me and so many others that may have been like me💖💖
I loved reading your comment! There is something wonderful about loving yourself and what you have instead of focusing on what you are not and have not. If you love studying, the act of it, the state of being a student, anything can be beautiful when it’s related to it. Focusing on your experience instead of what others do also means, at least in my opinion, that you can also indulge in things you find beautiful but stay reasonable about it too. Free of outside influence! I wish you all the success in your career and a productive school year!
I agree, thank you for sharing your experience. I tried making those pinterest notes that looks very aesthetically pleasing but it was not effective. I focused on decorating the notes more than memorising them. I stopped making notes because i thought taking notes were draining my energy when it was actually the decorating. Fast forward a few months (7months to be exact) later, I started to realise that aesthetic isn't everything. Yes, i still decorate my notes but i focus more to memorising it rather than making it look nice.
this is such an honest reflection of how we let the idea of belonging to a community consume us and we forget to stay true to ourselves. such a wonderful comment thank you
Consumerism is everywhere, not just in the studytube community. It's the fashion hauls, new makeup line reviews, product reviews, etc. New products are thrown in our faces all the time and we just need to be better at controlling our impulses and remind ourselves to stick to the basics.
I also feel as though a lot of the “extra aesthetic” studying is just procrastination TBH. I did uni with A4 refill paper, a ring binder per class, a couple pens and highlighters. And a lot of photocopying at the library (digital note taking wasn’t a thing back then...)
Rebecca A. I had like 1 highlighter, a normal fountain pen, and a BIC 4 colour pen (fancy!) and some basic colouring pencils! certainly not hundreds of fineliners and mild liners.
Yes hahaha I remember back in high school I had a classmate who always made her notes look super pretty (she’d rip them up and redo them) and she’d always make comments about how I used whatever random pen I could find or whatever. Well by the end of the year her grades were shot to hell. I knew it would happen and it annoys me to see this obsession with study aesthetics online
consumerism and aesthetics always seemed to be the main focus in ‘studytube’ content, its refreshing to finally hear valid criticism about this content and to not lose focus on the purpose of what studytube is which is.. studying while its fun to use different gadgets, apps, and cool stationery it shouldn’t be a competition to showcase who has the most and best of these stuff.
i agree with ALL your points! honestly, i feel like recently the studytube community has placed more of an emphasis on aesthetic stationary haul videos than study tips videos. i am a youtube creator too, and i definitely felt pressure to buy certain products (ipad pro, zebra mildliners) for the sake of feeling like apart of the studytube community. what’s funny is that i made JUST LIKE THIS just a few weeks ago :) i’m super glad this message is being spread and thank you for making this video :)) just a reminder: you don't need aesthetic stationary to get perfect grades, all you need is a positive and hardworking mindset :)
ironically, getting an ipad pro has meant that i’ve stayed away from all of the stationery, note books, and highlighters that get hyped up. it was expensive upfront, even though i bought it second hand, but it was really worth it for me as someone who commutes and doesn’t want to carry a lot. i feel like once you work out what works for you, keep doing that! study channels can be handy for looking for new techniques. try them out and see what sticks. but don’t keep do anything just because the study youtubers are doing it. loved your video!
same! i feel like i get into the aesthetics of things too much, but the ipad lets do all of that with less waste because u don't have to buy more highlighters, notebooks, pens, or stickers. so in the end it lessen my need to get things, also it's a big investment so now im poor lol
An ipad is just as hyped as all of the other stuff now. People want one only because all of the youtubers have it and make these aesthetic videos that are more digital art than notetaking. I get why people like it (though I believe that some honestly just have or want it because of the type) but it doesn't appeal to me at all, even with the "less waste" argument. If I had to stop using paper, I'd go with typing instead of the ipad. Writing with a stylus annoys me, It is good if you are really into the aesthetics and say, what you can do in word isn't enough of that for you. I like there to be colour and I want my notes to be neat but not necessarily "cute" or "aesthetic" just appealing and organized each for me to actually look at them after writing them. So for me a cheap notebook (100% recycled paper is fine, though it's not aesthetically stark white), the pens you get for free everywhere here, a set of Stabilo pastel highlighers and the few gifts I got from people are enough. And for digital notes on PC, I just downloded a few cute fonts, including handwriting ones which look cuter than my handwriting with a stylus anyway.
@@boopthenose9704 I know that you can type on an ipad, but unless you connect a keyboard to it, it is slower than on a laptop. And if I am just going to type, I could buy something cheaper than an ipad pro to do that just as well. Of course you can draw on the ipad, but I don't draw on my notes personally, and if I did, I'd do it by hand as the stylus just feels meh to me.
Being studied in a small local school in India, i never had access to any of the things shown in this video. I was getting education that was enough for me, i always thank god for blessing me with education. Despite being grown in a poor family, my education helped me to be independent. Today i own a company with 10+ employees, i am fulfilling my dreams and i am glad that i didn't got all those luxuries, otherwise i wouldn't have been where i am today... Amen
I’ve been thinking about StudyTube’s toxicity for a while, it’s intrinsic nature of comparison and the underlying assumptions that your whole self-worth depends on grades.
its sad. but tbh i see this across all communities. Beauty gurus deal with drugstore v. high end makeup drama. And when I used to be in the Booktube/gram community, there was a big problem with materialism when it came to renting v. buying books, physical v. ebook v. audiobooks. It was ridiculous along with other deeper issues that made me pull out of that mess. Its really discouraging both as a creator and consumer of a community when it's like this. So i always appreciate it when big channels like Mariana actually recognize their platform and use it to speak up on behalf of us who are the silent majority of the community.
You do not need gadgets to have high grades. You just need adequate stuff. Sad truth is having the highest grades don’t necessarily mean you will be earning the most. The highest earning people are never hired. They hire other people to work for them - so they don’t need to show their report card to anyone.
I think ever since the community started to drift toward more expensive products (i.e. digital note taking in the iPad), things got pricy- people got unmotivated. the point of a studygram was to motivate others to study rather than the amount of stationery you have to study with.
Actually I think the iPad CAN be a totál game changer. It definitely pushed me to be more minimalist. Now I mainly use my iPad to take my notes (typed or handwritten depending on the class) and just have like 5 pens besides that and one big sturdy notebook for those classes where I can’t use anything digital. I rarely have to print (which reduces a LOT of my footprint + less space required + much less weight to carry around bring home and back to dorm etc) if ever - I can use digital books and annotate them freely (library books you can’t annotate - real books I hate to annotate cause I feel I would ruin them.) So I think of anything the iPad is worth the most of these trends. Albeit I don’t agree with all the stickers, higliters, expensive notebooks and journals and all these things that end up being clutter after a year or so. They are costly take up a lot of space and have overall big impact on the environment. Plus no matter how fancy you make your notes that won’t help NO actually it will slow you down. - active recall (that is mostly digital) is the way to go and not painfully rewriting notes to fit a certain aesthetic goal even if you sort out information in the process it’s WAAAAY more inefficient than any other method.
F i n a l l y, such important issues being discussed and not only mentioned in a big study channel. Hope this starts a trend and sets an example to the rest. I love this community, but it’s frustrating watching people consuming much more than what they need. Thank you!! 🤗
drosera this is kind of backwards. Who funds these corporations? The consumers. There’s no supply without demand, which is why individual changes matter.
Mariana Bonilha I think the person meant to say that the corporations creating the products do more harm than the consumers that purchase them. e.g. you can reduce water usage all you want but the impact you make is so tiny. we should be lobbying for change in clothing and farming companies, where there impact is so significant, instead of attacking consumers. somehow environmentalists and sustainability activists have made the movement out to be an attack on individual consumers instead of corporations.
That's an important conversation too, as consumers we can take time to look up if the products we buy are eco-friendly, like Dingbats. If we choose sustainable brands over wasteful ones, it becomes a trend and it forces companies to be environmentally responsible because that is the demand.
Thank you! I think I got sucked into pretty note taking and actually found that it affected my grades negatively because I was spending SO much time on ~ aesthetics ~ (and also because my handwriting is bad so I’d be writing very slowly) and less on actually working on the material. It makes you feel a false sense of accomplishment: you made the notes pretty so you must have done something, right? While there’s nothing wrong with this, I think it’s important to remember that having pretty notes may just not work for you, which there is also nothing wrong with.
I so agree with what you said...I could never take notes (still can't) but I have been a straight A student throughout my school and college (I have a Bachelor and a Master's degree, and going for a second master's). I always felt that there was something wrong with me because I couldn't take beautiful notes or hell, even notes. I've now realised, after trying for the 'n'th time, that note-taking is not for me and I'll get by fine without that, by using the methods that I've always used.
Same! I did try to do the “pretty” notes thing, but it didn’t do anything for me. Personally I think it’s a time-waster. (Sorry study community, but please don’t hate me-that’s just how it is for me) While it’s nice to have nice notes, it’s better have functional notes. I watched a video on good note-taking from Eve Cornwell’s channel, tried it, and I had good grades at the end of the semester. I do a mix of digital and traditional note-taking, and it’s worked for me
@@arielhenrikson1007 Likewise! Her video on how to take first-class notes was a game-changer for me. :) I think whatever one is studying, the way she takes notes is very effective.
You're right, I was shocked by the number of very expensive things that you showed, as iPad, etc. And also in one of the videos you said that "I chose to write in my not neat handwriting", while showing perfectly great handwriting. The standards in the study community are impossibly high and seems not reachable.
Actually I think the iPad CAN be a totál game changer. It definitely pushed me to be more minimalist. Now I mainly use my iPad to take my notes (typed or handwritten depending on the class) and just have like 5 pens besides that and one big sturdy notebook for those classes where I can’t use anything digital. I rarely have to print (which reduces a LOT of my footprint + less space required + much less weight to carry around bring home and back to dorm etc) if ever - I can use digital books and annotate them freely (library books you can’t annotate - real books I hate to annotate cause I feel I would ruin them.) So I think of anything the iPad is worth the most of these trends. Albeit I don’t agree with all the stickers, higliters, expensive notebooks and journals and all these things that end up being clutter after a year or so. They are costly take up a lot of space and have overall big impact on the environment. Plus no matter how fancy you make your notes that won’t help NO actually it will slow you down. - active recall (that is mostly digital) is the way to go and not painfully rewriting notes to fit a certain aesthetic goal even if you sort out information in the process it’s WAAAAY more inefficient than any other method.
@@szilvianagy2410 I think it could be mentioned more that other tablet brands allow for similar functionality for those who view apple as overpriced and anti-consumer though... and some people do prefer android and windows which never seems to be catered too in the studyblr/studytube community, which is a fairly large niche to miss.
@@markersandtea exactly. I am a owner of a 360° rotatable windows touchscreen laptop. But I've never watched any videos regarding the windows or very few about android too, which can be definitely cheaper. Yes, an an engineer myself, I do agree that some apps found in apple ecosystem, is simply superior to some of the near alternatives in the other software verses. But the mentality to stick with only one item that works for all is toxic in itself. A community should expose us to more options which can be beneficial to different individuals belonging to different categories having different needs.
markersandtea As much as I like Apple products, Microsoft and Android aren’t bad. Despite having an iPad, if I ever have to type something Word is my only choice.
I wish they'd show us more brands. I hate apple, I mainly use Android (Samsung) and Microsoft products, so I feel completely left out. I'm now trying to adapt my notetaking techniques to my gamer laptop. I mainly use OneNote app, but I wish I had more ideas and suggestions.
Really good and honest conversation...when facing consumerism, always remember the key minimalism idea: use things that are essential and the best for your needs, not what the trends are and not what looks nice but is actually a massive pain to use. It could be as simple as pencil on paper or typing in Notion on your phone, as long as you're actually learning and not wasting time choosing what color of marker to use!
Omg, yes... yes... and more YES! Personally, I discovered the studytube community almost 2 years ago. I fell in love with it for the study tips and tricks, however, I began to notice about a year ago that alot of the study channels I used to watch began constantly pushing and advertising these expensive products that I don't even use regularly because I felt pressured into thinking that if I didn't have those products, I wouldn't be successful. Next thing you know, I had spent HUNDREDS of dollars on stationary that I just either gave away or threw away. Studytube needs to get back to studying and stop pushing and advertising expensive products.
woah, that sucks. I recommend trying Mint, it's a free app that's really useful for managing your spending. It can automatically categorize your purchases. It's been helpful for me in curbing down influencer induced buying, maybe it'll work for you too?
Finally someone decided to address this! At some point in my life I started giving up my studying because I thought that if my notes don't look as pretty as some pictures I wasn't doing it right. Tbh when you are in college the less you try to focus on colorfully notes the better. I fully agree when it comes to the stationery not being available in many countries and may I add there are some companies that don't even ship in my country. Finally someone said it !
I agree wholeheartedly! I just joined the community not too long ago and I already feel the stress of having to make perfect “aesthetic” notes and film asmr-like vlogs to gain any traction ;; I keep thinking that I can’t make a “how to take notes” video simply because my note taking style is so different from what I see from other big studytubers! what drew me into the studytube community is learning about the diverse styles and methods studytubers adopt. nowadays all I see are the repeating songs, aesthetic stickers and bullet journals, cute stationery and it’s really putting me off sometimes. this video is much needed, thank you for shedding light upon this topic!!
I love looking at diverse study techniques. I've stopped watching many of the videos because I can't work out if I've watched them or not they're all so similar.
honestly this needs to be said lol. i've been a part of this community for a while, and it can be just really toxic with the constant desire to be perfect academically and to have all this fancy aesthetic stationery and products, it can be really overwhelming, and i'm sure you could get your work done without the aide of expensive highlighters and things. you're always so so insightful and your videos are always a pleasure to watch. thank you
My best grades were when I really committed to learning not to making my notes beautiful. What I really wanted and needed were just stop myself from procrastinating 😌
I, too, fell into that hole for a short period of time. I traveled to Japan regularly so I stocked up on all these things, and I admit that some products really stayed with me for years now (2 mild liners and a sarasa black pen for example). But I soon noticed that most of these hyped things are nothing special, they just looked cute on the outside. The first time I got suspicious was when Stabilo fineliners were THE hype. I grew up in germany and every german kid used fineliners; if you had money you had the whole set, if not (me) you had at least a black and maybe a red one. Not because they were THAT good but because in the 90s that was the only thing that existed haha. And they sucked, honestly 😅 they were always dried up or the tip was brittle. So when they suddenly got hyped by study and bujo influencers I really got suspicious Nowadays I use B5 notebooks from the 100¥ store and the aforementioned black sarasa pen, together with one or two mildliners to highlight important stuff. And that's ALL. My broke past self wished it knew what I know now. Kids, you dont need all this stuff! Minimalism feels amazing!
Yeah I don't think I've ever seen it mentioned that you can buy things like mildliners individually if you just want a couple of colours over buying multiple different packs Also I think Stabilo have improved their tips somewhat but they always wore down super easily if you wrote with too much pressure (i.e. most people's normal writing pressure) which isn't great. Never had an issue with drying out though, hell I'm still trying to use up the odd 'ugly' colour from a set I had years ago.
I was deep into studyblr in middle School and high school. Back then I loved all things stationary. Since I started college I have only bought more paper when needed. it's freeing in a way. The community made me focus on school and those grades got me into college but the consumerism started to bothered me. It was expensive and sometimes excessive. Glad you brought this to light! Take care 🌸
lol, studying like them to me is a waste of time except for how they organize their schedules in planners. Drawing all these ribbons and color here and there, I don't got time for that for every single one of my class notes. XD
They actually end up rewriting them after. I've had fellow students who did that back in the day because they were perfectionists. Almost all of them have had a burnout at work at this point (15 years later).
This is so so important. As much as I love some study-community content (specifically yours and studyquill, because you focus on practical advice and information rather than aesthetics), it can be really toxic. When I first started getting into the community, I felt like I absolutely needed to have perfect notes, so much so that if I was writing them and messed up the aesthetic (either through messier handwriting or misspelling something or even just not having the ‘right’ order of bullet points) I’d literally rip out the page and start again. Which was crazy! The point was to learn, not make nice notes. It’s not like I had an Instagram I had to post them to, either, I just had a ridiculously high standard. The same thing happened in my bullet journal. Keeping up with an art heavy journal was just too much, mainly because nothing I ever did looked perfect enough. So now I keep an extremely minimal journal, and it’s much more effective. This school year I’m going to focus on making effective notes... not aesthetic ones. And I honestly think my grades will be even better for that.
The aesthetic is so stressful to me - it's perfect and it can make me feel that if my journal isn't bullet with hand drawings, it is wrong. If my note taking isn't perfectly formed, again with little adorable doodles and perfectly placed post-it flags, I'm failing. I'd like to see some more casual, slightly more "sloppy" writing, no doodles or perfectly curated stickers.
I just don’t understand why a lot of study creators use the most overexpensive products. Of course it’s their life& they can do whatever tf they want but i never understood the point of mostly buying coffee from starbucks, mostly purchasing furniture from ikea and mostly using apple products.some of creators just like to show off these, their life feels so fake. Material things aren’t everything& doesn’t make us whole. I used to cry cuz i didn’t have all the premium things they had but now i understand that shit won’t matter. I’m grateful for what i have. My point is i wish some study creators understood that they’re affecting a huge community & they should understand there are poor people too. I’m thankful that this channel and the one she mentioned made a video about this to inform people. Thank you sir. (And sorry if i have typos damn it’s 2 am)
totally agree. and the funny thing is, you don't even need those products to have good grades. i have always had 90+ (or A-A+ in US grading system) grades without ever having aesthetic notes or the latest tablet. (heck, my desk is a mess and my notes are all over the place lol)
mlpsunset shimmer thats...that’s not how influence works. Especially not on social media platforms. There are big lucrative careers centered around influencing your viewers....Which is why they’re called influencers. Personal responsibility is a thing but especially in our hyper connected, ego and validation driven world, it’s kind of a joke to pretend our actions exist in any kind of bubble. They were influenced by the standards and expectations of our society and community, and will in turn influence others. You’re just as responsible for what u say and do on a public platform just as you are of yourself. Also it’s not like OP said they should use one thing over another or that he tried to establish control over any individuals life. He just made a very general statement about why creators tend to use hyped up, mainstream, and over expensive brands and little else. Let’s not sit here and pretend creators don’t SIGNIFICANTLY affect the actions of their viewers. Hence sponsorships and the career title of “influencer”.
When studyblr was popular I made my own hashtag #messynotes just to post my own messy handwriting so I could look at that hashtag instead of all the perfect notes I was seeing otherwise
Honestly, if I could go back in time. I would tell myself to get the heck away from a lot of the study community. There is so much emphasis on what pen to use and BS studying techniques that mostly aren't that effective (if I see another video talking about the Pomodoro technique ima scream). I wish I could go back in time and not spend all the money I did on school supplies. I'm a senior in college and I am desperately trying to get through the millions of pens, pencils, and high lighters I've bought over the years because I thought they would motivate me more to get through. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing like a good black pen that works well. But I don't need a thousand of them. I don't need a pack of midliners, I need one highlighter at the most. I don't need a pack of colored pens. I don't need fancy mechanical pencils. And I certainly don't need the millions of sticky notes. I honestly want my money back. I could have put the money into a bank account with interest. Buying fancy stationery may not seem like it costs a lot, but over time those $5 pencils start to add up. Seriously, anytime you are think "oh what's this $3 pack of pens going to hurt." But down the pens and put that $3 into savings. Your future self will thank you.
You should see if you can sell what you have. Likely will not recoup much but at least it will help you pass it along to people who will use it. And if you really don’t care about making money you can probably give it away for free or donate it.
@@AlicedeTerre My current plan is to stop buying any and all stationery and just use what I have. And i've managed to give away most of my sticky notes, but most people don't seem to want other people's used stationery. So im just going to keep using everything until I run out of everything. If that means 3 years from now i'm writing with only colored pens so be it.
@@IsabelRodriguez-jt8tg I'm sure others find it useful. But I personally find it difficult to constantly be switching mindsets. Personally, I like to study in bursts of productivity and then take a real actually fun break. For example I would study for my biology test for roughly 4-5 hours and really really focus on what i'm doing and actually get into what im studying. Then it would be dinner time and then i'd take a break for an hour or so and enjoy my meal and watch a movie while doing it. Or I might go for a walk for an hour. But the whole 30 mins of studying 15 min break, is not enough time to do either well. And it's not the end all be all that most studytubers claim it is.
@@beacreates4370 I feel the same way about pomodoro . I just listen to my body when I really need a break and create my own schedule. I think you'll like Flow by mihaly csikszentmihalyi and I think you've probably heard this book from other studytubers too but I actually really like the points this book tells.
Thank you, Mariana, for this provoking post. Being in my late 50‘ies, let me comment, that I very much appreciate your „search“, your strieving for new ideas and even more productive roads. I never saw your channel as a marketing vehicle. But I very much understand the dangers of „influence“ you stated now so transparently!
Thank you so much for addressing this. I used to think that I require good books, colorful pens, highlighters, brush pens etc. But all these are so expensive and somehow I got hold of all of them. But the thing is that I didn't even use most of them even the notebooks.
When I discovered the studyblr community I was fascinated, I bought all the highlighters and cute stuff I could afford at that time (which was not so much compared to some huge collections of like, 200 different pens, but was way more than I needed) I was so obessed with cute colors and stuff... But as time passed I became bored with it. I mean is great to have some nice pens I can look at and get motivated but I'll never be able to have +100 pens, sticky notes and stuff and NOT get overwhelmed. RN I discovered I study the best with less stuff, so I'm slowly using up all I have so only the essencials can stay. Thankfully it seems like more and more people are talking about this because it needs to be addressed from time to time, as a reminder :D
Great video! And thank you for your honesty, I totally agree with you. I always feel confused about all the expensive gear and supplies that appear in studytube content, because I don't get what can be the actual use in terms of acheving high marks. I mean, a Macbook pro for just taking notes? An applewatch for.... what, exactly? (I don't hate Apple company, it's just the most seen products in most of the videos). Same with markers: at first, Tombow pens were created for illustrators and designers (in other words, for a more professional use), so few years ago when I start watching people using them to just underline notes on a notebook I was really surprised, in a bad sense. Imagine using Copic Markers on a textbook? (well, it probably will destroy the page) Or a Caran D'ache pencil to scribble some math exercises on High School? What I'm trying to say is that I think that we all have to understand what those materials are created for and what is the actual use we are going to give to it, and then try to be honest with our personal and unique needs, and respond to them appropietly. And I'm not saying that we all have to be minimalist or something like that, just that we certainly need to stop coping (or pretend to copy) the reality we see on Social Media and start analyzing better our own reality. I hope this whole thing make sense. It's just my point of view. Looking for the next video! **Sorry in advance for the possible language mistakes!
Thank you for this important video. When I was in my 4th year of university, I really felt how toxic the study community was. I was constantly anxious about being productive, wanted my notes to look perfect, but I started to pay less attention to actual studying and my grades went down. After that year I decided to stay away from the study community and things got much better.
I'm an honor student, not to brag, but honestly, the only thing that matters is a pen and a highlighter for the topic to make it easier to find. I like the study tube community especially the visuals and aesthetic but when I tried, it was so time-consuming and I couldn't learn much with it. I was lucky enough to realize it soon and went back to my pen, paper, highlighter which is more efficient and better for me. One thing that I liked about the study community is the handwriting. No, I don't have that kind of handwriting but it did help motivate me a bit to work on my handwriting which I'm super grateful for. Also lemme tell you from my observation, 7/10 the more intelligent you are, the shittier your handwriting lol. Then there's the rare 3 who are intelligent and have good handwriting lol. But anyways, as long as your handwriting is at least readable that's good already. Like, really just make it readable. My notes way before that I looked back on was super unreadable. So one thing I'm grateful to the study community about is bringing my attention to improve my handwriting. I still watch some study channels for fun and might buy some other stationary but definitely NOT FOR STUDYING and sticking to cheaper alternatives. It's more for a personal bullet journaling and sometimes art when I'm bored and have time to kill. Definitely not a priority. But never for studying because that way of studying is inefficient and inefficient for me. I'm fortunate enough to afford these. But for those who can't, please dont force it, especially if it's just for aesthetic purposes. You can achieve good notes by just using pen and a highlighter.
This video was necessary to emphasize the points that work and tenacity are the essential elements to successful study. Colours, doodles, gadgets and gizmos add a little spice and fun but do not replace effort, concentration and dedication.
I'm in grad school and took notes all throughout undergrad with only pen and paper. My notes were never anything fancy (and honestly sometimes quite messy). I'm in a field with a very high reading load, so I purchase used books when I can (usually ones directly related to my specific interests) and write in/dog-ear pages that are important or bring up questions. I understand this can't be done with library books or rentals, but you can buy some cheap paper page markers for like a buck if you want to make notations in a book without writing directly in it. Undergrad is where you're feeling out your own note-taking style so don't worry if it doesn't look good! Just focus on writing down the important points of your lecture and maybe star or highlight topics that are given a lot of time and emphasis by your professor. It gets easier the more you do it, but as long as you can kind of read what you wrote and make out the main points, that's all you really need.
This is a great video. I was very close to falling into this trend. As a business student I had to take a step back. I recently found the study community is becoming very much like the beauty community, hauls and fancy organisation!
I didn't even know there was a studytube community before clicking on this video. Thanks for opening up my eyes. I graduated college with a 4.0 and my most-beloved study objects were Bic pens and Mead notebooks. Haha can't beat the tried and true
I totally agree! where are the "Photosynthesis summarized" Or "How to memorize periodic table" vids haha. As much as I LOVE stationery and aesthetics, we need to balance it folks ! lol
Thank you for talking about this! I've been following the studying community on RUclips for a good amount of time now and I noticed this too!! it persuades us *even unintentionally* that there's a specific way and imagery of studying that is universally accepted. which makes it harder on people who don't have an ✨all-white room ✨or share their room with someone to finish watching a studying vlog to motivate them then have to actually study in their room
It's so weird to me that I found this video today because last week was a new low for me since I realized I couldn't enjoy studyvlogs the way I did before because there's no way I could ever get all the pretty things people have and show on these videos (I mean, I can't even afford a simple phone, let alone an iPad/iMac and all the Apple stuff they usually have and, on purpose or not, promote). I was feeling super sad and even when this has a lot to do with other things, just by looking at all the pretty things I'd love to have but just can't, I was making myself sad. So, yeah, thank you for this video. For some reason I can't really explain, it means a lot to me that people are talking about this. I hope you (and anyone reading this) have a good day!
I love how honest this video is. In today's world we are being sucked into his rabbit hole called consumerism without even realizing it. And the study community plays a very important role. I'm not blaming the study community here, please don't take me wrong but as she said, most of the times, we don't need these fancy products. I have a study channel myself but we have started to buy products to follow the trends rather than to actually use it for its value. Aesthetic is good to a point but as the proverb goes, too much of anything is good for nothing.
i absolutely agree! im never quite happy with how my notes look and i realise that i’m always thinking about the aesthetics. i can never finish a notebook without ripping out pages because they don’t “look good enough”. the times when i’ve been the most successful and got the best grade were when i was just using a piece of paper and messily writing what i remembered from my head.
Thank you! This was a much needed video, because I have just joined the study community and I kept telling my self that I did not need all of this stuff last semester and I am an honor student. The aesthetic part of it all is just that and you are right you do not need all of that stuff to be a successful student nor write pretty notes. It can be pretty expensive to try and do all of that stuff and not all students can afford these things. Thank you for such and honest video, I really do appreciate it.
Wow Mariana, I love your honesty, to your community, and to yourself. I've followed you for a long time and I've seen you grow. I am a professor who loves stationery (most of my life) and found so many study techniques so complicated that defeated the purpose. I am glad some light has been shed. We live in a consumerist society and everything has been commercialized. Glad studying is taking a simpler perspective and so many tools available for all.
Thnx for pointing this out 🙏 I got into the study tube community two years ago. That year I bought amazing stationeries which were really costy and I could've invested the money in much important stuff. Not to lie I changed a lot that year. I learned calligraphy and I had the best notebooks in class and my grades improved drastically, but it seemed like I was more focused on the aesthetic than the studying itself. Yet, the drawbacks really showed last year, my first year of highschool. I didn't get to buy the amazing stationeries like last year and just because of that I started the school year with a horrible attitude. The time I spent doing the headers for my notes was much more than the time I spent reviewing them. Just because my notes weren't "aesthetic " enough or the colours didn't match I would tear the paper I rewrite it and image how time consuming that was ! That term I got the worst average and rank of my life. Now I shifted my mindset completely. I realized how toxic the studytube community is. Yeah I still really love stationeries but I didn't really bother to buy the most beautiful stationeries in the whole class. I bought art supplies instead. Also I'm willing to spend my time wisely and actually have fun studying not getting triggered by not-totally-perfect note
Great video! I agree with everything you said. I found the study tube community a few years ago and I loved it, but it didn't take too long for me to start feeling bad about not having the most beautiful handwriting or the stationary supplies, then I realized that even if I had the things people showed in their videos, I would not use them because I don't feel like putting that amount of effort on something that I'm not even going to review. I'm really glad the community is starting to address this problem.
My favorite study channel is maria silva's. She doesn't stress about aesthetic and brands- just hard work and taking care of yourself. Very inspiring without making you feel like you are lacking.
Great video! I recently graduated grad school and looking back I realized how much I spent on “essential study tools” when I didn’t need them or use them through out my time at school.
I’m fortunate enough to have an iPad with pencil and I was inspired by studytubers. When I tried to take notes beautifully for a paper I realized how much of a setback it is. Rewriting and worrying about it looking “pretty” I was over it after 5 minutes
This was such a great video and so refreshing. Back in the day I used to run a studyblr on Tumblr which got pretty popular but I always struggled with finding the right balance between honesty and aesthetic. In the end I made quite a few posts about how my real-world studying didn't often fit into the aesthetic ideals of studyblr. Now I'm taking my first steps onto studytube and I want to make sure I get the balance right from the beginning and videos like this have really helped me to focus my mind on that so thank you.
Great video! I discovered studytube when I was preparing to go back to college. I never really studied in high school and wanted to position myself as advantageously as possible upon my return, so I was essentially studying the habits of studytubers to get a feel for what I should prepare myself to do. I absolutely see where you're coming from with the consumerist aspect of it all. I didn't personally feel a need to replicate the aesthetics as a broke dude in his mid 20's, but I could see how that would affect someone younger and less apathetic about their own appearance. I started off just using basic supplies like cheap gel pens and notebooks but did eventually upgrade to the MacBook/iPad setup and I found it super beneficial. I picked up a ton of good study habits and I learned about resources I didn't know about before that I now find essential, like Goodnotes and the Apple ecosystem. I was definitely influenced to spend more money than I would have otherwise, but in retrospect, these are investments into my future that have been super useful. Plus, the cute aesthetics of most of the study videos are a guilty pleasure of mine and studying with those videos kept me sane throughout online classes. My big takeaway is that these videos are good for people that want to learn good habits and find study inspiration, but creators should be more honest about the consumerist aspect of things for the younger and more impressionable crowd, AKA their target audiences.
I definitely agree with your points in this video and it's really refreshing to hear your perspective! The aesthetic studying is beautiful, yes, but it's hard to keep up with each trend especially for broke students. And it's by no means necessary to get good grades. I tried following the trend briefly in university, buying fancy pens, highlighters, and notebooks. Trying to plan my notes so that they'd be visually beautiful. Honestly? It worked. Organizing my notes into neat layouts with color coded highlighting and diagrams helped me focus on the most important information I've studied, and therefore perform better on the test. But, this was SO time consuming to make. A simple rewrite of my classroom notes with one color highlighter could have easily done the trick. And would have saved me a lot of time and money. (I still do enjoy collecting stationery now, so not everything was a waste though!)
I think this discussion is so important because, as you said, some of the products the study community advertise for are really expensive in some countries. I’m from brazil and things like the midliners or kanken are REALLY expensive here, and in some cases the quality is not as high as the price, but ppl just go for it as is presented like it’s the best thing ever
O seu foi o primeiro canal de estudos que me inscrevi pouco antes de entrar na faculdade. Aprendi muitas técnicas que me ajudaram muito e outras que me auxiliaram por um tempo e então acabaram não servindo mais. Felizmente, tive a oportunidade de testar e consegui me formar com mérito e sei que todo o studytude community teve seu papel nisso. Mas conforme fui me aprofundando nessa comunidade pude observar todos esses pontos mais tóxicos que você apontou no vídeo. Para mim, o processo é simples: priorizou objetos e hiperprodutividade a aprendizado, eu paro de seguir. Mas, infelizmente, não é uma relação tão clara para os integrantes mais novos da comunidade que acabam focando muito no consumismo e nas aparências. De qualquer forma, é importante trazer essa reflexão à tona, as boas comunidades sempre estão abertas a renovação.
I feel like I've grown out of the study community because I'm now a Masters student and just don't care anymore about all the asethics and expensive stationary. I also ran a studygram but got bored of it after 2 and half years
I haven't heard of studytube before. On the other hand, I've only recently starting to search for study techniques, since I really want to remember what I read/learn and I didn't learn that in school (ages ago). I like this channel, calm and concise! :)
Thank you for being so honest. It’s super hard for studytubers like myself to understand this sometimes. Everyone needs to understand that pretty pens and stationery DOES NOT equal success in your studying life. I remember one of the main reasons I had bought my iPad Pro was from seeing all these RUclips videos and thinking it would help me study better. I won’t lie, it’s been really helpful for me, but for others it may not.
Nicely done and well said. Important message. I was stressing a bit too much over making sure one of my granddaughters had everything she needed for college. Even though I know better! Your video helped me calm down a bit and look at what was important. Thanks so much!
I stumbled across your video and channel after I had watched Jasmine's video you mentioned, and I believe a lot more people should take your message to heart. I've never technically been in the study community on any platform, though I have to admit the entire aesthetic around it, the posts, the setups, everything always looked clean and beautiful. I felt like these pictures were motivating me just by looking at them, reminding me that there were still some studies waiting for me, and I needed to stop procrastinating. I have come to deeply enjoy some of the products that are frequently seen across the communtiy such as the mildiners, yet the different methods of notetaking that seemed to work so well for so many different people never 'clicked' with me. I had grown tired of studying only a few sentences in when I had tried to constantly focus on my notes looking 'neat' and 'organised' and god forbid my handwriting was a little off that day, I just wanted to throw the whole thing away. It's so important for people to realise that it's not a one-fits-all kind of situation, and everyone needs to figure out for themselves what type of learner they are, and which system of notetaking will work great for them. It's about HOW you use the materials you own, even if it's just a pen and a highlighter, not necessarily WHAT you own in terms of brands, variety, etc. Study blogs and videos can be great to inspire and motivate you to take your studies more seriously, or to make sure your notes are organised enough for you to efficiently work with, but the mere look or aesthetic of all these pretty and colourful products should never distract you too much from their intended purpose as an item. 📚
This might be one of the greatest messages in video form I've seen. Back when I first changed from paper notes to digital notes I searched for some tablets and all I could see was the iPad, be it the pro, the air or the basic one. Because of some issues I wasn't able to buy any of them and went with the galaxy tab s3 on sale. It was the greatest possible tablet for 2 years. I had some issues because I wasn't able to recreate some of the trends perfectly but after a while I got the hang of it and was able to create my own things instead of just following the trends!
I really appreciate this video. I am actually fairly new to the world of studytube and the more I started watching these videos, the more tempting it became to go on a shopping spree and get a bunch of new highlighters, stationary, etc. because I suddenly saw mine as old and boring--they didn't fit the "aesthetic" of a successful student, so how could I be successful? The only thing that held me back, really, was knowing how both expensive and environmentally wasteful it would be. I think your message is really important because even if it is not said explicitly, a lot of studytube videos send the message that these "things" will miraculously solve your problems. In the end though, spending money on too much stuff is bad for you (it gets overwhelming), bad for your wallet, and bad for the planet. Not saying that you shouldn't treat yourself once in a while--but get things that you will genuinely use and will genuinely add joy to your life. Personally, I've realized that salvaging an old notebook to use it for another class by redecorating the cover and doing some tweaks brings me a lot more happiness than buying a new one that may be pretty, but I have zero personal attachment to. That's just my two cents though. Thanks again for sharing your views on this in such a thoughtful way :)
What you said about certain products not being available in other countries is so true! As a bilingual student, I often tend to consume videos in English and well, most of those cute products are not even close to the basic stationary that we get around here so it kinda gets discouraging because I see those products EVERYWHERE and I feel so left out
Omg thank you so much for making this video. I was thinking of making a video where I discuss consumerism in studytube, but I hesitated making it because I was afraid I'd get hate lol. More RUclipsrs should really bring this issue to light. Great video ❤️
I'm sorry you made some of your older videos private. I enjoy your old school videos as well as your new ones. Your older videos inspired me a lot. You helped me to get better organized, and pulling out my tidier folder and notebooks motivated me to study. I started watching you around Jan. 2016, and I'm a big fan of yours past and present! tfs
The great value of your channel is not related to this or that (expensive) product, but on sharing with us a variety of approaches and methods to be an effective and efficient student. It’s about giving us multiple options to be productive. And BTW, your guidance is equally valuable when applied for work ( my case ). Keep on the good work. Thanks
I just realized that RUclips hasn't shown me one of your videos in a while (weird). I'm happy you made this video. So much of what you said applies to the planner/bullet journal community. I've always stationary, but boy did I end up buying a lot more pens because of the videos I watched lol. At some point, I just realized that I needed to get down to basics and that I didn't really need to do much extra. That "extra" leads to a bunch of procrastination and doesn't really help. Your videos were always helpful for me and they did help me try different things to better my organization. I think there's just a balance and transparency needed in the community. While I can understand that a lot of the things can't possibly be used all the time, there are a lot of impressionable minds that can't tell that difference. Great video!
I appreciate this kind of video that talks about the negative side to RUclips, etc. Because it really is true that things are so rooted in consumerism. I’ve seen this in other RUclips communities I enjoy, like booktube, language learning, etc. There is so much focus on STUFF, but part of the reason for that is promoting things is how RUclipsrs make money, so it kinda goes hand-in-hand. I think this is something that needs to be talked bout more so that people can enjoy RUclips and certain communities without feeling lesser or worse about themselves. We need to remember that exactly what’s being promoted by influencers is not necessarily the best thing for you or anyone, that influencers will promote stuff that they don’t even necessarily use & that RUclips is all about consumerism like the rest of the world & it’s good to remind yourself not to fall into the trap that buying something is going to fix your problems.
I never got into all the aesthetics with the study community. I use simple paper, black pen and yellow highlighter, it’s not what you use it’s what you put into your study session that makes a difference!
I think it is very nice to watch how your videos have come along, from all tech stuff to just going on a "minimalistic" trend. I think minimalism is very important in studying, from how your are studying and what elements are your studying with. Great video!
I watch a lot of studytube content and I appreciate your honesty on this topic. I’m glad this conversation has started in the community. I think it’s really important for both the creators and viewers in Studytube to remember that this community focuses on studying and what makes it more effective and productive, and not on products. Also what works for one person does not necessarily work for everyone.
I joined this community last year. but I didnt buy any of the stationary or asthetic stuff. I only started to use notion and other apps, that are actually useful. I think this whole productivity thing is overrated (not that the tips on how to be productive are nonsense, they are useful), we spend more time watching the videos and looking around for new tips then actually procrastinating bc of other things. We focus too much on getting tips then actually focusing on the goals that really matter. edit: I find it nice to treat yourself with something for your setup when it is an absolute necessity and you have managed to achieve a big goal. It's this nice feeling, when you know that you deserve it
I'm an educator in a low-income neighborhood and some of my students don't even have a pen and paper. They usually rely on the school to provide them but with Distance Learning things have been tough for them. It's hard sometimes watching these kiddos try to succeed with no supplies. It honestly baffles me that some people spend so much money on pens when others can't even afford the most basic supplies
back then i remember joining the study community because i wanted to have the motivation to study. however, i just blinked and everything took a turn on ~ aesthetic ~ posts, calligraphy, the perfect flatlay, etc. i once did that, but it ate too much precious time to actually study. ever since i noticed that, i stopped using my studygram account. i felt like an alien because i wasn't having those cute flatlays or i wasn't ~ that ~ active in posting content. i agree to your thoughts (and most of the med students/study vloggers i follow who also shared their thoughts on this). and im glad that im not the only one who thinks that way. i do hope that the creators will lessen their focus on these ~ overhyped ~ trends and be more mindful that most students on the platform do not have the luxury to buy those things.
Very good video! I recently started a studygram and, yeah, it is hard to reach out to new people in a very crowded community, but I do it for myself first. Obviously, I do pay attention to the aesthetics of my posts, but within my capibility. I'm not trying to make it perfect, just pleasing at least a bit and, hopefully, helpful. I would not buy some expensive stuff just to show it off. I think the study community has to help people get motivated to study, but not pressure them about what they do
When I was in high school, I absolutely loved those study videos, because they motivated me to learn and prepare for school. But they also kind of put pressure on me, because I felt I didn't have the right "equipment" to learn something. But I must say, more and more I watch youtube and more specifically the study video I find that imperfection is also alright with me!
I totally agree. That's why I made a video like this myself, so people don't need to buy the product in order to see if they like it and if not why is that. I think supplies are like skincare: you don't need much of it, it's fun to experiment, but at the end of the day some things may work for people that for others don't.
Great video! The thing that always frustrates me on social media (and that goes for ALL communities) is what seems to be the lack of common sense, because OBVIOUSLY not every product works for everyone, OBVIOUSLY everybody has to figure out what works for them, OBVIOUSLY everyone has different preferences, OBVIOUSLY nobody needs to purchase everything they see online, OBVIOUSLY people don't need a 2k device for taking notes, the list goes on. I feel like people always need something to argue about. Use what works for you, use what you like, use what you can afford and focus on the goal you want to achieve. Take inspiration from others if you want to, but use common sense - and have your finances in check. 😄
Completely agree, thank you so much for sharing this video!! It’s so refreshing to hear an honest viewpoint on this subject in a world that is so driven by comparison and consumer culture. It also’s liberating that this video gives confidence to those who don’t wish to follow the ‘StudyTube’ trend that what they are doing is enough and that consumer products and these trends are not the ‘make or break’ factor for being successful, so thank you😊
I had watched Jasmines video a while ago, and I agree with everything! I believed I had to get aesthetic things to be able to study better. Although it did make me excited to use them while studying or taking notes, they weren’t necessary. I bought an iPad for note taking and while it’s not necessary, I did grow to absolutely love it for notes, reading, and casual use but it’s not for everyone and with so many creators having iPads specifically (rather than some having iPads and some other kind of tablets), it does create this pressure or feeling that you need it for success.
I understand what you have said in your videos, and I think you did pointed out some very good points. But I think I will point out what the study gram did for me: I am always a creative person, but as the work from school gets heavier I felt like I was disconnected with my creative outlet, and I really bothered me. But through making "aesthetic" notes, I found this perfect common ground of school work, and it took the stress of studying away. Especially during this time of COVID, the ways I take notes really have brightened up my life. About Consumerism: I am really glad that you pointed this out. However, many pens I use, I have purchased them years ago. I believe by purchasing higher qualities of pens, I will also be paying for a higher pay for the factory workers, and many Japanese brands are already on the tracks of "go green." I think for such topics there are no absolute right and wrong, in our time right now, It is so easy to "cancel" something from one's split decision. It is nice to talk about the negative side of a popular trend, but also keep in mind of the benefits. :)
Your note on it being ok to wanting to try new things, but not expect these shiny toys improve your grades is a really good point. Of course the trying new things should also be taken with caution and not impulsively. But the idea that you need this special product to do something that can be done with other products (with certain expections) is something that affects so many. I had done this a few times, and it is not good. I've been lucky to have been given an understanding on why certain products can be better, but also taking time to decide "is this what I really need or really want?". Some products are really better, but do you need them?
I think i'd known this in my head, but i didn't put two and two together. I appreciate that you say that your criticisms are not to deter people from focusing on aesthetics but to encourage people to be upfront about their participation in consumerism. As creators, we should be aware and conscious of what we are promoting in our creative content. In addition, in this day and age where the world is suffering from fast trends, we should especially try to be conscious of the waste we are producing and try our best to be as eco-friendly as possible. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I know i'll be keeping this in mind moving forward :-)
I’m glad you admitted you used to do this, because you got big on this aesthetic. I think the time people take to make such perfect notes totally distract from active recall, which is much more effective a lot of the time than recopying notes and highlighting using numerous colorful pens.
I've been watching your videos for years now and I can say I was always impressed with your colored notes, but I personally never felt like I had to adapt your entire style. It was cool to try and use, but it doesn't always seem realistic for effective studying. A lot of these trends seem very time-consuming. That being said, I've aced many classes using minimalistic styles and wanted to adapt ways of making my notes look less dull, and I knew if it took too much time to drop it immediately. I am really glad you made this video because I think this definitely could be a problem for younger students who don't know better. Thank you for taking the time to make this video and I hope you keep reviewing products in the future! Your videos have inspired me to want to make my own videos, currently working on my channel now which is mostly anatomy coursework lol. Hopefully studying & note-taking in future :-)
I agree with this. I got into the studytube community completely on accident, just trying to find study tips for college. Then I got sucked in and began watching these videos and feeling inadequate because I didn’t have muji notebooks and fineliners. I spend about two or three months buying some things I see in the videos.... but I saw my enthusiasm ended quickly because I couldn’t find a use for ANOTHER highlighter set or ANOTHER sticky note pad. I began to ask myself if I really needed this stuff. And the answer is no. So all I’ve got now are two sets of highlighters, a set of fineliners and a few felt tip pens, and basic cute notebooks from the dollar store. I chose not to feed into the hype because it’s too expensive and honestly not worth it. An iPad Pro will not get me through college- my work ethic and time management will.
I’ve recently been a silent watcher, and this comment is late, but I really just want to say thank you. I watched people like Justinebujo and Studyign, and I just wanted to get everything they had. They were my biggest inspiration, their whole RUclips life was so aesthetically pleasing and I wanted to be like them. But as I got the things they had (mild liners and gel pens) I found myself becoming invested in the community and what to buy next, not new study tips or tips on homework. It made my grades drop like crazy, and I passed last school year with c’s, d’s and b minuses. I’ve never felt so unsatisfied with my life until then. Then I found your channel, and you said in a video that aesthetics isn’t everything. I was so mad, I felt as if it were a personal attack on my life. But I’ve had time to reflect on what my values should be, and I’ve become thankful for everything. My budget iPad (which works wonders for me, I love it) my phone (that’s been with me through so much and was the gateway to find so many people I love now) my home (which is lovely and comfortable) and everything else. I’ve managed to dig myself out of a grave of self pity, and it’s thanks to people like you. If I have anything to thank for the study community though, it’s probably them introducing me to fjallraven. It’s expensive at, but I read what that company’s cause is for, and it re-ignited my passion for learning about animals. I know now that I WANT to become a wildlife biologist, and I’m 100% sure about it now. Funny enough though, the first video I watched of the backpack was from you :). Now that my school year started, I’m doing so much better now that I’m not thinking of making everything beautiful. I just listen to the teacher and get my work done, which is the effective learning and studying strategy for me. I’m sorry that this was so long to read, if any of you did read it, I just wanted to get that off of my chest (sorry for any grammar mistakes as well). I just really appreciate you helping me and so many others that may have been like me💖💖
I loved reading your comment! There is something wonderful about loving yourself and what you have instead of focusing on what you are not and have not. If you love studying, the act of it, the state of being a student, anything can be beautiful when it’s related to it. Focusing on your experience instead of what others do also means, at least in my opinion, that you can also indulge in things you find beautiful but stay reasonable about it too. Free of outside influence! I wish you all the success in your career and a productive school year!
bro i have been addicted to studytube videos and i have not been motivated until now by reading your comment.. Thank u
YESSS!
I agree, thank you for sharing your experience.
I tried making those pinterest notes that looks very aesthetically pleasing but it was not effective. I focused on decorating the notes more than memorising them. I stopped making notes because i thought taking notes were draining my energy when it was actually the decorating.
Fast forward a few months (7months to be exact) later, I started to realise that aesthetic isn't everything. Yes, i still decorate my notes but i focus more to memorising it rather than making it look nice.
this is such an honest reflection of how we let the idea of belonging to a community consume us and we forget to stay true to ourselves. such a wonderful comment thank you
Consumerism is everywhere, not just in the studytube community. It's the fashion hauls, new makeup line reviews, product reviews, etc. New products are thrown in our faces all the time and we just need to be better at controlling our impulses and remind ourselves to stick to the basics.
True, specially with fashion, I think out of the three it's the industry doing the most damage.
Julie Cho 조윤서 ditto on constantly reminding ourselves to stick to the basics.
I also feel as though a lot of the “extra aesthetic” studying is just procrastination TBH. I did uni with A4 refill paper, a ring binder per class, a couple pens and highlighters. And a lot of photocopying at the library (digital note taking wasn’t a thing back then...)
lol procrastination is inspiration
Yeah, you totally right. I tried the aesthetic notes for a while but it was more a kind of fun way to pretend to be studying
Rebecca A. I had like 1 highlighter, a normal fountain pen, and a BIC 4 colour pen (fancy!) and some basic colouring pencils! certainly not hundreds of fineliners and mild liners.
Yes hahaha I remember back in high school I had a classmate who always made her notes look super pretty (she’d rip them up and redo them) and she’d always make comments about how I used whatever random pen I could find or whatever. Well by the end of the year her grades were shot to hell. I knew it would happen and it annoys me to see this obsession with study aesthetics online
Also I do agree tho that writing neatly and highlighting important info so that everything is clear is important and really helps!!
consumerism and aesthetics always seemed to be the main focus in ‘studytube’ content, its refreshing to finally hear valid criticism about this content and to not lose focus on the purpose of what studytube is which is.. studying
while its fun to use different gadgets, apps, and cool stationery it shouldn’t be a competition to showcase who has the most and best of these stuff.
Pen and paper. Never carried more than this to college. Never gets old. Hard to get better.
true, the lesser the better
Agreed!
Lynn Lee i cant resist a good recycled paper lol
Lynn Lee
I don’t actively search for recycled paper, but I won’t pass up on it. It’s good to care for the nature as well.
It matters _how_ you study, not particularly the materials you use beyond paper and a writing utensil
i agree with ALL your points! honestly, i feel like recently the studytube community has placed more of an emphasis on aesthetic stationary haul videos than study tips videos. i am a youtube creator too, and i definitely felt pressure to buy certain products (ipad pro, zebra mildliners) for the sake of feeling like apart of the studytube community. what’s funny is that i made JUST LIKE THIS just a few weeks ago :) i’m super glad this message is being spread and thank you for making this video :))
just a reminder: you don't need aesthetic stationary to get perfect grades, all you need is a positive and hardworking mindset :)
I love your channel!! I actually watched your video on consumerism too :P
studyfluff hi just wanted to say I was the 100th like 😌
I'm so glad more RUclipsrs are talking about this!
I saw ur vid! I totally agree! where are the "Photosynthesis summarized" Or "How to memorize periodic table" Vids Haha lol
studyfluff I miss 2017-2018 studytube..
ironically, getting an ipad pro has meant that i’ve stayed away from all of the stationery, note books, and highlighters that get hyped up. it was expensive upfront, even though i bought it second hand, but it was really worth it for me as someone who commutes and doesn’t want to carry a lot. i feel like once you work out what works for you, keep doing that! study channels can be handy for looking for new techniques. try them out and see what sticks. but don’t keep do anything just because the study youtubers are doing it. loved your video!
same! i feel like i get into the aesthetics of things too much, but the ipad lets do all of that with less waste because u don't have to buy more highlighters, notebooks, pens, or stickers. so in the end it lessen my need to get things, also it's a big investment so now im poor lol
An ipad is just as hyped as all of the other stuff now. People want one only because all of the youtubers have it and make these aesthetic videos that are more digital art than notetaking.
I get why people like it (though I believe that some honestly just have or want it because of the type) but it doesn't appeal to me at all, even with the "less waste" argument. If I had to stop using paper, I'd go with typing instead of the ipad. Writing with a stylus annoys me,
It is good if you are really into the aesthetics and say, what you can do in word isn't enough of that for you. I like there to be colour and I want my notes to be neat but not necessarily "cute" or "aesthetic" just appealing and organized each for me to actually look at them after writing them. So for me a cheap notebook (100% recycled paper is fine, though it's not aesthetically stark white), the pens you get for free everywhere here, a set of Stabilo pastel highlighers and the few gifts I got from people are enough. And for digital notes on PC, I just downloded a few cute fonts, including handwriting ones which look cuter than my handwriting with a stylus anyway.
@@mchobbit2951 You can type and draw on the iPad
@@boopthenose9704 I know that you can type on an ipad, but unless you connect a keyboard to it, it is slower than on a laptop. And if I am just going to type, I could buy something cheaper than an ipad pro to do that just as well.
Of course you can draw on the ipad, but I don't draw on my notes personally, and if I did, I'd do it by hand as the stylus just feels meh to me.
@@mchobbit2951 you don’t have to draw on your notes you just draw stuff...like if you’re an artist who makes money from doing commissions
Being studied in a small local school in India, i never had access to any of the things shown in this video. I was getting education that was enough for me, i always thank god for blessing me with education. Despite being grown in a poor family, my education helped me to be independent. Today i own a company with 10+ employees, i am fulfilling my dreams and i am glad that i didn't got all those luxuries, otherwise i wouldn't have been where i am today... Amen
thank u for sharing this!!
God bless you
Congratulations 💕
@@onasidequest4420 God bless you too 😊
@@ximena9061 Thanks 😊
I’ve been thinking about StudyTube’s toxicity for a while, it’s intrinsic nature of comparison and the underlying assumptions that your whole self-worth depends on grades.
its sad. but tbh i see this across all communities. Beauty gurus deal with drugstore v. high end makeup drama. And when I used to be in the Booktube/gram community, there was a big problem with materialism when it came to renting v. buying books, physical v. ebook v. audiobooks. It was ridiculous along with other deeper issues that made me pull out of that mess. Its really discouraging both as a creator and consumer of a community when it's like this. So i always appreciate it when big channels like Mariana actually recognize their platform and use it to speak up on behalf of us who are the silent majority of the community.
You do not need gadgets to have high grades. You just need adequate stuff.
Sad truth is having the highest grades don’t necessarily mean you will be earning the most. The highest earning people are never hired. They hire other people to work for them - so they don’t need to show their report card to anyone.
I think ever since the community started to drift toward more expensive products (i.e. digital note taking in the iPad), things got pricy- people got unmotivated. the point of a studygram was to motivate others to study rather than the amount of stationery you have to study with.
Actually I think the iPad CAN be a totál game changer. It definitely pushed me to be more minimalist. Now I mainly use my iPad to take my notes (typed or handwritten depending on the class) and just have like 5 pens besides that and one big sturdy notebook for those classes where I can’t use anything digital. I rarely have to print (which reduces a LOT of my footprint + less space required + much less weight to carry around bring home and back to dorm etc) if ever - I can use digital books and annotate them freely (library books you can’t annotate - real books I hate to annotate cause I feel I would ruin them.) So I think of anything the iPad is worth the most of these trends.
Albeit I don’t agree with all the stickers, higliters, expensive notebooks and journals and all these things that end up being clutter after a year or so. They are costly take up a lot of space and have overall big impact on the environment. Plus no matter how fancy you make your notes that won’t help NO actually it will slow you down. - active recall (that is mostly digital) is the way to go and not painfully rewriting notes to fit a certain aesthetic goal even if you sort out information in the process it’s WAAAAY more inefficient than any other method.
But, what about Jasmine herself? She is less 'studytee' and more 'Amanda Rach Lee'.
F i n a l l y,
such important issues being discussed and not only mentioned in a big study channel. Hope this starts a trend and sets an example to the rest.
I love this community, but it’s frustrating watching people consuming much more than what they need.
Thank you!! 🤗
Can we talk about the negative effect hoarding stationary has on the environment :(
drosera this is kind of backwards. Who funds these corporations? The consumers. There’s no supply without demand, which is why individual changes matter.
Mariana Bonilha I think the person meant to say that the corporations creating the products do more harm than the consumers that purchase them. e.g. you can reduce water usage all you want but the impact you make is so tiny. we should be lobbying for change in clothing and farming companies, where there impact is so significant, instead of attacking consumers. somehow environmentalists and sustainability activists have made the movement out to be an attack on individual consumers instead of corporations.
@drosera we fund the corporation's with our dollars. We're all at fault.
EXACTLY!!!!
That's an important conversation too, as consumers we can take time to look up if the products we buy are eco-friendly, like Dingbats. If we choose sustainable brands over wasteful ones, it becomes a trend and it forces companies to be environmentally responsible because that is the demand.
Thank you! I think I got sucked into pretty note taking and actually found that it affected my grades negatively because I was spending SO much time on ~ aesthetics ~ (and also because my handwriting is bad so I’d be writing very slowly) and less on actually working on the material. It makes you feel a false sense of accomplishment: you made the notes pretty so you must have done something, right? While there’s nothing wrong with this, I think it’s important to remember that having pretty notes may just not work for you, which there is also nothing wrong with.
Exactly 100% right!
I so agree with what you said...I could never take notes (still can't) but I have been a straight A student throughout my school and college (I have a Bachelor and a Master's degree, and going for a second master's). I always felt that there was something wrong with me because I couldn't take beautiful notes or hell, even notes. I've now realised, after trying for the 'n'th time, that note-taking is not for me and I'll get by fine without that, by using the methods that I've always used.
Same! I did try to do the “pretty” notes thing, but it didn’t do anything for me. Personally I think it’s a time-waster. (Sorry study community, but please don’t hate me-that’s just how it is for me)
While it’s nice to have nice notes, it’s better have functional notes. I watched a video on good note-taking from Eve Cornwell’s channel, tried it, and I had good grades at the end of the semester. I do a mix of digital and traditional note-taking, and it’s worked for me
Layla-Tal Medina I LOVE Eve Cornwell, her videos have been really helpful for me too
@@arielhenrikson1007 Likewise! Her video on how to take first-class notes was a game-changer for me. :) I think whatever one is studying, the way she takes notes is very effective.
You're right, I was shocked by the number of very expensive things that you showed, as iPad, etc. And also in one of the videos you said that "I chose to write in my not neat handwriting", while showing perfectly great handwriting. The standards in the study community are impossibly high and seems not reachable.
Actually I think the iPad CAN be a totál game changer. It definitely pushed me to be more minimalist. Now I mainly use my iPad to take my notes (typed or handwritten depending on the class) and just have like 5 pens besides that and one big sturdy notebook for those classes where I can’t use anything digital. I rarely have to print (which reduces a LOT of my footprint + less space required + much less weight to carry around bring home and back to dorm etc) if ever - I can use digital books and annotate them freely (library books you can’t annotate - real books I hate to annotate cause I feel I would ruin them.) So I think of anything the iPad is worth the most of these trends.
Albeit I don’t agree with all the stickers, higliters, expensive notebooks and journals and all these things that end up being clutter after a year or so. They are costly take up a lot of space and have overall big impact on the environment. Plus no matter how fancy you make your notes that won’t help NO actually it will slow you down. - active recall (that is mostly digital) is the way to go and not painfully rewriting notes to fit a certain aesthetic goal even if you sort out information in the process it’s WAAAAY more inefficient than any other method.
@@szilvianagy2410 I think it could be mentioned more that other tablet brands allow for similar functionality for those who view apple as overpriced and anti-consumer though... and some people do prefer android and windows which never seems to be catered too in the studyblr/studytube community, which is a fairly large niche to miss.
@@markersandtea exactly. I am a owner of a 360° rotatable windows touchscreen laptop. But I've never watched any videos regarding the windows or very few about android too, which can be definitely cheaper. Yes, an an engineer myself, I do agree that some apps found in apple ecosystem, is simply superior to some of the near alternatives in the other software verses.
But the mentality to stick with only one item that works for all is toxic in itself. A community should expose us to more options which can be beneficial to different individuals belonging to different categories having different needs.
markersandtea
As much as I like Apple products, Microsoft and Android aren’t bad. Despite having an iPad, if I ever have to type something Word is my only choice.
I wish they'd show us more brands. I hate apple, I mainly use Android (Samsung) and Microsoft products, so I feel completely left out. I'm now trying to adapt my notetaking techniques to my gamer laptop. I mainly use OneNote app, but I wish I had more ideas and suggestions.
Really good and honest conversation...when facing consumerism, always remember the key minimalism idea: use things that are essential and the best for your needs, not what the trends are and not what looks nice but is actually a massive pain to use. It could be as simple as pencil on paper or typing in Notion on your phone, as long as you're actually learning and not wasting time choosing what color of marker to use!
Omg, yes... yes... and more YES!
Personally, I discovered the studytube community almost 2 years ago. I fell in love with it for the study tips and tricks, however, I began to notice about a year ago that alot of the study channels I used to watch began constantly pushing and advertising these expensive products that I don't even use regularly because I felt pressured into thinking that if I didn't have those products, I wouldn't be successful. Next thing you know, I had spent HUNDREDS of dollars on stationary that I just either gave away or threw away. Studytube needs to get back to studying and stop pushing and advertising expensive products.
woah, that sucks. I recommend trying Mint, it's a free app that's really useful for managing your spending. It can automatically categorize your purchases. It's been helpful for me in curbing down influencer induced buying, maybe it'll work for you too?
Finally someone decided to address this! At some point in my life I started giving up my studying because I thought that if my notes don't look as pretty as some pictures I wasn't doing it right. Tbh when you are in college the less you try to focus on colorfully notes the better. I fully agree when it comes to the stationery not being available in many countries and may I add there are some companies that don't even ship in my country. Finally someone said it !
I agree wholeheartedly! I just joined the community not too long ago and I already feel the stress of having to make perfect “aesthetic” notes and film asmr-like vlogs to gain any traction ;; I keep thinking that I can’t make a “how to take notes” video simply because my note taking style is so different from what I see from other big studytubers!
what drew me into the studytube community is learning about the diverse styles and methods studytubers adopt. nowadays all I see are the repeating songs, aesthetic stickers and bullet journals, cute stationery and it’s really putting me off sometimes. this video is much needed, thank you for shedding light upon this topic!!
Please post the video!!
I love looking at diverse study techniques. I've stopped watching many of the videos because I can't work out if I've watched them or not they're all so similar.
honestly this needs to be said lol. i've been a part of this community for a while, and it can be just really toxic with the constant desire to be perfect academically and to have all this fancy aesthetic stationery and products, it can be really overwhelming, and i'm sure you could get your work done without the aide of expensive highlighters and things.
you're always so so insightful and your videos are always a pleasure to watch. thank you
Wow thank you for saying this! This is one of the main reasons I became kind of disillusioned with studytube
My best grades were when I really committed to learning not to making my notes beautiful. What I really wanted and needed were just stop myself from procrastinating 😌
I, too, fell into that hole for a short period of time. I traveled to Japan regularly so I stocked up on all these things, and I admit that some products really stayed with me for years now (2 mild liners and a sarasa black pen for example). But I soon noticed that most of these hyped things are nothing special, they just looked cute on the outside. The first time I got suspicious was when Stabilo fineliners were THE hype. I grew up in germany and every german kid used fineliners; if you had money you had the whole set, if not (me) you had at least a black and maybe a red one. Not because they were THAT good but because in the 90s that was the only thing that existed haha. And they sucked, honestly 😅 they were always dried up or the tip was brittle. So when they suddenly got hyped by study and bujo influencers I really got suspicious
Nowadays I use B5 notebooks from the 100¥ store and the aforementioned black sarasa pen, together with one or two mildliners to highlight important stuff. And that's ALL.
My broke past self wished it knew what I know now. Kids, you dont need all this stuff! Minimalism feels amazing!
Yeah I don't think I've ever seen it mentioned that you can buy things like mildliners individually if you just want a couple of colours over buying multiple different packs
Also I think Stabilo have improved their tips somewhat but they always wore down super easily if you wrote with too much pressure (i.e. most people's normal writing pressure) which isn't great. Never had an issue with drying out though, hell I'm still trying to use up the odd 'ugly' colour from a set I had years ago.
I was deep into studyblr in middle School and high school. Back then I loved all things stationary. Since I started college I have only bought more paper when needed. it's freeing in a way.
The community made me focus on school and those grades got me into college but the consumerism started to bothered me. It was expensive and sometimes excessive. Glad you brought this to light! Take care 🌸
tbhstudying is a perfect example of a studytuber who is very reasonable in what she uses and reminding her followers what they need and don't need
lol, studying like them to me is a waste of time except for how they organize their schedules in planners. Drawing all these ribbons and color here and there, I don't got time for that for every single one of my class notes. XD
They actually end up rewriting them after. I've had fellow students who did that back in the day because they were perfectionists. Almost all of them have had a burnout at work at this point (15 years later).
This is so so important. As much as I love some study-community content (specifically yours and studyquill, because you focus on practical advice and information rather than aesthetics), it can be really toxic. When I first started getting into the community, I felt like I absolutely needed to have perfect notes, so much so that if I was writing them and messed up the aesthetic (either through messier handwriting or misspelling something or even just not having the ‘right’ order of bullet points) I’d literally rip out the page and start again. Which was crazy! The point was to learn, not make nice notes. It’s not like I had an Instagram I had to post them to, either, I just had a ridiculously high standard. The same thing happened in my bullet journal. Keeping up with an art heavy journal was just too much, mainly because nothing I ever did looked perfect enough. So now I keep an extremely minimal journal, and it’s much more effective. This school year I’m going to focus on making effective notes... not aesthetic ones. And I honestly think my grades will be even better for that.
Ali Abdaal's study tips are really helpful, don't run for aesthetics, run for grades and learning. Great video 💕
I SO AGREE. It has a better system as well, too!
both him and his assistant make helpful videos and they are actually useful. very recommended to subscribe!! 👍
The aesthetic is so stressful to me - it's perfect and it can make me feel that if my journal isn't bullet with hand drawings, it is wrong. If my note taking isn't perfectly formed, again with little adorable doodles and perfectly placed post-it flags, I'm failing. I'd like to see some more casual, slightly more "sloppy" writing, no doodles or perfectly curated stickers.
I just don’t understand why a lot of study creators use the most overexpensive products. Of course it’s their life& they can do whatever tf they want but i never understood the point of mostly buying coffee from starbucks, mostly purchasing furniture from ikea and mostly using apple products.some of creators just like to show off these, their life feels so fake. Material things aren’t everything& doesn’t make us whole. I used to cry cuz i didn’t have all the premium things they had but now i understand that shit won’t matter. I’m grateful for what i have. My point is i wish some study creators understood that they’re affecting a huge community & they should understand there are poor people too. I’m thankful that this channel and the one she mentioned made a video about this to inform people. Thank you sir. (And sorry if i have typos damn it’s 2 am)
totally agree. and the funny thing is, you don't even need those products to have good grades. i have always had 90+ (or A-A+ in US grading system) grades without ever having aesthetic notes or the latest tablet. (heck, my desk is a mess and my notes are all over the place lol)
Ikea is the most affordable furniture store though
You should have stopped at “it’s their life and they can do what they want”. End of story. It’s THEIR videos, and THEIR content. Not yours.
I like using my ipad because I don’t like have paper everywhere and it’s easier to organize
mlpsunset shimmer thats...that’s not how influence works. Especially not on social media platforms. There are big lucrative careers centered around influencing your viewers....Which is why they’re called influencers. Personal responsibility is a thing but especially in our hyper connected, ego and validation driven world, it’s kind of a joke to pretend our actions exist in any kind of bubble. They were influenced by the standards and expectations of our society and community, and will in turn influence others. You’re just as responsible for what u say and do on a public platform just as you are of yourself. Also it’s not like OP said they should use one thing over another or that he tried to establish control over any individuals life. He just made a very general statement about why creators tend to use hyped up, mainstream, and over expensive brands and little else. Let’s not sit here and pretend creators don’t SIGNIFICANTLY affect the actions of their viewers. Hence sponsorships and the career title of “influencer”.
When studyblr was popular I made my own hashtag #messynotes just to post my own messy handwriting so I could look at that hashtag instead of all the perfect notes I was seeing otherwise
Honestly, if I could go back in time. I would tell myself to get the heck away from a lot of the study community. There is so much emphasis on what pen to use and BS studying techniques that mostly aren't that effective (if I see another video talking about the Pomodoro technique ima scream). I wish I could go back in time and not spend all the money I did on school supplies. I'm a senior in college and I am desperately trying to get through the millions of pens, pencils, and high lighters I've bought over the years because I thought they would motivate me more to get through. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing like a good black pen that works well. But I don't need a thousand of them. I don't need a pack of midliners, I need one highlighter at the most. I don't need a pack of colored pens. I don't need fancy mechanical pencils. And I certainly don't need the millions of sticky notes. I honestly want my money back. I could have put the money into a bank account with interest. Buying fancy stationery may not seem like it costs a lot, but over time those $5 pencils start to add up. Seriously, anytime you are think "oh what's this $3 pack of pens going to hurt." But down the pens and put that $3 into savings. Your future self will thank you.
You should see if you can sell what you have. Likely will not recoup much but at least it will help you pass it along to people who will use it. And if you really don’t care about making money you can probably give it away for free or donate it.
@@AlicedeTerre My current plan is to stop buying any and all stationery and just use what I have. And i've managed to give away most of my sticky notes, but most people don't seem to want other people's used stationery. So im just going to keep using everything until I run out of everything. If that means 3 years from now i'm writing with only colored pens so be it.
what's wrong with the pomodoro technique?
@@IsabelRodriguez-jt8tg I'm sure others find it useful. But I personally find it difficult to constantly be switching mindsets. Personally, I like to study in bursts of productivity and then take a real actually fun break. For example I would study for my biology test for roughly 4-5 hours and really really focus on what i'm doing and actually get into what im studying. Then it would be dinner time and then i'd take a break for an hour or so and enjoy my meal and watch a movie while doing it. Or I might go for a walk for an hour. But the whole 30 mins of studying 15 min break, is not enough time to do either well. And it's not the end all be all that most studytubers claim it is.
@@beacreates4370 I feel the same way about pomodoro . I just listen to my body when I really need a break and create my own schedule. I think you'll like Flow by mihaly csikszentmihalyi and I think you've probably heard this book from other studytubers too but I actually really like the points this book tells.
Thank you, Mariana, for this provoking post. Being in my late 50‘ies, let me comment, that I very much appreciate your „search“, your strieving for new ideas and even more productive roads. I never saw your channel as a marketing vehicle. But I very much understand the dangers of „influence“ you stated now so transparently!
Thank you so much for addressing this.
I used to think that I require good books, colorful pens, highlighters, brush pens etc. But all these are so expensive and somehow I got hold of all of them. But the thing is that I didn't even use most of them even the notebooks.
When I discovered the studyblr community I was fascinated, I bought all the highlighters and cute stuff I could afford at that time (which was not so much compared to some huge collections of like, 200 different pens, but was way more than I needed) I was so obessed with cute colors and stuff... But as time passed I became bored with it. I mean is great to have some nice pens I can look at and get motivated but I'll never be able to have +100 pens, sticky notes and stuff and NOT get overwhelmed. RN I discovered I study the best with less stuff, so I'm slowly using up all I have so only the essencials can stay. Thankfully it seems like more and more people are talking about this because it needs to be addressed from time to time, as a reminder :D
Great video! And thank you for your honesty, I totally agree with you.
I always feel confused about all the expensive gear and supplies that appear in studytube content, because I don't get what can be the actual use in terms of acheving high marks. I mean, a Macbook pro for just taking notes? An applewatch for.... what, exactly? (I don't hate Apple company, it's just the most seen products in most of the videos). Same with markers: at first, Tombow pens were created for illustrators and designers (in other words, for a more professional use), so few years ago when I start watching people using them to just underline notes on a notebook I was really surprised, in a bad sense. Imagine using Copic Markers on a textbook? (well, it probably will destroy the page) Or a Caran D'ache pencil to scribble some math exercises on High School?
What I'm trying to say is that I think that we all have to understand what those materials are created for and what is the actual use we are going to give to it, and then try to be honest with our personal and unique needs, and respond to them appropietly. And I'm not saying that we all have to be minimalist or something like that, just that we certainly need to stop coping (or pretend to copy) the reality we see on Social Media and start analyzing better our own reality.
I hope this whole thing make sense. It's just my point of view.
Looking for the next video!
**Sorry in advance for the possible language mistakes!
Thank you for this important video. When I was in my 4th year of university, I really felt how toxic the study community was. I was constantly anxious about being productive, wanted my notes to look perfect, but I started to pay less attention to actual studying and my grades went down. After that year I decided to stay away from the study community and things got much better.
Thanks for sharing!!
I'm an honor student, not to brag, but honestly, the only thing that matters is a pen and a highlighter for the topic to make it easier to find. I like the study tube community especially the visuals and aesthetic but when I tried, it was so time-consuming and I couldn't learn much with it. I was lucky enough to realize it soon and went back to my pen, paper, highlighter which is more efficient and better for me.
One thing that I liked about the study community is the handwriting. No, I don't have that kind of handwriting but it did help motivate me a bit to work on my handwriting which I'm super grateful for. Also lemme tell you from my observation, 7/10 the more intelligent you are, the shittier your handwriting lol. Then there's the rare 3 who are intelligent and have good handwriting lol. But anyways, as long as your handwriting is at least readable that's good already. Like, really just make it readable. My notes way before that I looked back on was super unreadable. So one thing I'm grateful to the study community about is bringing my attention to improve my handwriting.
I still watch some study channels for fun and might buy some other stationary but definitely NOT FOR STUDYING and sticking to cheaper alternatives. It's more for a personal bullet journaling and sometimes art when I'm bored and have time to kill. Definitely not a priority. But never for studying because that way of studying is inefficient and inefficient for me.
I'm fortunate enough to afford these. But for those who can't, please dont force it, especially if it's just for aesthetic purposes. You can achieve good notes by just using pen and a highlighter.
This video was necessary to emphasize the points that work and tenacity are the essential elements to successful study. Colours, doodles, gadgets and gizmos add a little spice and fun but do not replace effort, concentration and dedication.
I've had a hard time putting knowledge over aesthetics, even now it's hard. Thanks for the video, I needed to hear this. Love you!
I love your channel because it’s one of the few study channels that actually give REAL study tips, with actual content/information.
I'm in grad school and took notes all throughout undergrad with only pen and paper. My notes were never anything fancy (and honestly sometimes quite messy). I'm in a field with a very high reading load, so I purchase used books when I can (usually ones directly related to my specific interests) and write in/dog-ear pages that are important or bring up questions. I understand this can't be done with library books or rentals, but you can buy some cheap paper page markers for like a buck if you want to make notations in a book without writing directly in it. Undergrad is where you're feeling out your own note-taking style so don't worry if it doesn't look good! Just focus on writing down the important points of your lecture and maybe star or highlight topics that are given a lot of time and emphasis by your professor. It gets easier the more you do it, but as long as you can kind of read what you wrote and make out the main points, that's all you really need.
This is a great video. I was very close to falling into this trend. As a business student I had to take a step back. I recently found the study community is becoming very much like the beauty community, hauls and fancy organisation!
I didn't even know there was a studytube community before clicking on this video. Thanks for opening up my eyes. I graduated college with a 4.0 and my most-beloved study objects were Bic pens and Mead notebooks. Haha can't beat the tried and true
Hard to beat a basic Bic.
I totally agree! where are the "Photosynthesis summarized" Or "How to memorize periodic table" vids haha. As much as I LOVE stationery and aesthetics, we need to balance it folks ! lol
Thank you for talking about this! I've been following the studying community on RUclips for a good amount of time now and I noticed this too!! it persuades us *even unintentionally* that there's a specific way and imagery of studying that is universally accepted. which makes it harder on people who don't have an ✨all-white room ✨or share their room with someone to finish watching a studying vlog to motivate them then have to actually study in their room
It's so weird to me that I found this video today because last week was a new low for me since I realized I couldn't enjoy studyvlogs the way I did before because there's no way I could ever get all the pretty things people have and show on these videos (I mean, I can't even afford a simple phone, let alone an iPad/iMac and all the Apple stuff they usually have and, on purpose or not, promote). I was feeling super sad and even when this has a lot to do with other things, just by looking at all the pretty things I'd love to have but just can't, I was making myself sad. So, yeah, thank you for this video. For some reason I can't really explain, it means a lot to me that people are talking about this.
I hope you (and anyone reading this) have a good day!
I love how honest this video is. In today's world we are being sucked into his rabbit hole called consumerism without even realizing it. And the study community plays a very important role. I'm not blaming the study community here, please don't take me wrong but as she said, most of the times, we don't need these fancy products. I have a study channel myself but we have started to buy products to follow the trends rather than to actually use it for its value.
Aesthetic is good to a point but as the proverb goes, too much of anything is good for nothing.
i absolutely agree! im never quite happy with how my notes look and i realise that i’m always thinking about the aesthetics. i can never finish a notebook without ripping out pages because they don’t “look good enough”. the times when i’ve been the most successful and got the best grade were when i was just using a piece of paper and messily writing what i remembered from my head.
Thank you! This was a much needed video, because I have just joined the study community and I kept telling my self that I did not need all of this stuff last semester and I am an honor student. The aesthetic part of it all is just that and you are right you do not need all of that stuff to be a successful student nor write pretty notes. It can be pretty expensive to try and do all of that stuff and not all students can afford these things. Thank you for such and honest video, I really do appreciate it.
Wow Mariana, I love your honesty, to your community, and to yourself. I've followed you for a long time and I've seen you grow. I am a professor who loves stationery (most of my life) and found so many study techniques so complicated that defeated the purpose. I am glad some light has been shed. We live in a consumerist society and everything has been commercialized. Glad studying is taking a simpler perspective and so many tools available for all.
Thnx for pointing this out 🙏
I got into the study tube community two years ago. That year I bought amazing stationeries which were really costy and I could've invested the money in much important stuff. Not to lie I changed a lot that year. I learned calligraphy and I had the best notebooks in class and my grades improved drastically, but it seemed like I was more focused on the aesthetic than the studying itself. Yet, the drawbacks really showed last year, my first year of highschool. I didn't get to buy the amazing stationeries like last year and just because of that I started the school year with a horrible attitude. The time I spent doing the headers for my notes was much more than the time I spent reviewing them. Just because my notes weren't "aesthetic " enough or the colours didn't match I would tear the paper I rewrite it and image how time consuming that was ! That term I got the worst average and rank of my life. Now I shifted my mindset completely. I realized how toxic the studytube community is. Yeah I still really love stationeries but I didn't really bother to buy the most beautiful stationeries in the whole class. I bought art supplies instead. Also I'm willing to spend my time wisely and actually have fun studying not getting triggered by not-totally-perfect note
Great video! I agree with everything you said. I found the study tube community a few years ago and I loved it, but it didn't take too long for me to start feeling bad about not having the most beautiful handwriting or the stationary supplies, then I realized that even if I had the things people showed in their videos, I would not use them because I don't feel like putting that amount of effort on something that I'm not even going to review. I'm really glad the community is starting to address this problem.
My favorite study channel is maria silva's. She doesn't stress about aesthetic and brands- just hard work and taking care of yourself. Very inspiring without making you feel like you are lacking.
Great video! I recently graduated grad school and looking back I realized how much I spent on “essential study tools” when I didn’t need them or use them through out my time at school.
I just recently got here but I really enjoy your honesty about the whole studytube thing. You and studyquill are my go to channels on this topic :)
I’m fortunate enough to have an iPad with pencil and I was inspired by studytubers. When I tried to take notes beautifully for a paper I realized how much of a setback it is. Rewriting and worrying about it looking “pretty”
I was over it after 5 minutes
This was such a great video and so refreshing. Back in the day I used to run a studyblr on Tumblr which got pretty popular but I always struggled with finding the right balance between honesty and aesthetic. In the end I made quite a few posts about how my real-world studying didn't often fit into the aesthetic ideals of studyblr.
Now I'm taking my first steps onto studytube and I want to make sure I get the balance right from the beginning and videos like this have really helped me to focus my mind on that so thank you.
Great video! I discovered studytube when I was preparing to go back to college. I never really studied in high school and wanted to position myself as advantageously as possible upon my return, so I was essentially studying the habits of studytubers to get a feel for what I should prepare myself to do. I absolutely see where you're coming from with the consumerist aspect of it all. I didn't personally feel a need to replicate the aesthetics as a broke dude in his mid 20's, but I could see how that would affect someone younger and less apathetic about their own appearance. I started off just using basic supplies like cheap gel pens and notebooks but did eventually upgrade to the MacBook/iPad setup and I found it super beneficial. I picked up a ton of good study habits and I learned about resources I didn't know about before that I now find essential, like Goodnotes and the Apple ecosystem. I was definitely influenced to spend more money than I would have otherwise, but in retrospect, these are investments into my future that have been super useful. Plus, the cute aesthetics of most of the study videos are a guilty pleasure of mine and studying with those videos kept me sane throughout online classes. My big takeaway is that these videos are good for people that want to learn good habits and find study inspiration, but creators should be more honest about the consumerist aspect of things for the younger and more impressionable crowd, AKA their target audiences.
I definitely agree with your points in this video and it's really refreshing to hear your perspective!
The aesthetic studying is beautiful, yes, but it's hard to keep up with each trend especially for broke students. And it's by no means necessary to get good grades.
I tried following the trend briefly in university, buying fancy pens, highlighters, and notebooks. Trying to plan my notes so that they'd be visually beautiful. Honestly? It worked. Organizing my notes into neat layouts with color coded highlighting and diagrams helped me focus on the most important information I've studied, and therefore perform better on the test. But, this was SO time consuming to make. A simple rewrite of my classroom notes with one color highlighter could have easily done the trick. And would have saved me a lot of time and money. (I still do enjoy collecting stationery now, so not everything was a waste though!)
I think this discussion is so important because, as you said, some of the products the study community advertise for are really expensive in some countries. I’m from brazil and things like the midliners or kanken are REALLY expensive here, and in some cases the quality is not as high as the price, but ppl just go for it as is presented like it’s the best thing ever
O seu foi o primeiro canal de estudos que me inscrevi pouco antes de entrar na faculdade. Aprendi muitas técnicas que me ajudaram muito e outras que me auxiliaram por um tempo e então acabaram não servindo mais. Felizmente, tive a oportunidade de testar e consegui me formar com mérito e sei que todo o studytude community teve seu papel nisso. Mas conforme fui me aprofundando nessa comunidade pude observar todos esses pontos mais tóxicos que você apontou no vídeo. Para mim, o processo é simples: priorizou objetos e hiperprodutividade a aprendizado, eu paro de seguir. Mas, infelizmente, não é uma relação tão clara para os integrantes mais novos da comunidade que acabam focando muito no consumismo e nas aparências. De qualquer forma, é importante trazer essa reflexão à tona, as boas comunidades sempre estão abertas a renovação.
I feel like I've grown out of the study community because I'm now a Masters student and just don't care anymore about all the asethics and expensive stationary. I also ran a studygram but got bored of it after 2 and half years
I haven't heard of studytube before.
On the other hand, I've only recently starting to search for study techniques, since I really want to remember what I read/learn and I didn't learn that in school (ages ago).
I like this channel, calm and concise! :)
This video is honest and insightful. Not every RUclipsr would be this reflective and talk about this topic, so thank you so much Mariana!!! :)
Thank you for being so honest. It’s super hard for studytubers like myself to understand this sometimes. Everyone needs to understand that pretty pens and stationery DOES NOT equal success in your studying life. I remember one of the main reasons I had bought my iPad Pro was from seeing all these RUclips videos and thinking it would help me study better. I won’t lie, it’s been really helpful for me, but for others it may not.
Nicely done and well said. Important message. I was stressing a bit too much over making sure one of my granddaughters had everything she needed for college. Even though I know better! Your video helped me calm down a bit and look at what was important. Thanks so much!
I stumbled across your video and channel after I had watched Jasmine's video you mentioned, and I believe a lot more people should take your message to heart. I've never technically been in the study community on any platform, though I have to admit the entire aesthetic around it, the posts, the setups, everything always looked clean and beautiful. I felt like these pictures were motivating me just by looking at them, reminding me that there were still some studies waiting for me, and I needed to stop procrastinating. I have come to deeply enjoy some of the products that are frequently seen across the communtiy such as the mildiners, yet the different methods of notetaking that seemed to work so well for so many different people never 'clicked' with me. I had grown tired of studying only a few sentences in when I had tried to constantly focus on my notes looking 'neat' and 'organised' and god forbid my handwriting was a little off that day, I just wanted to throw the whole thing away.
It's so important for people to realise that it's not a one-fits-all kind of situation, and everyone needs to figure out for themselves what type of learner they are, and which system of notetaking will work great for them. It's about HOW you use the materials you own, even if it's just a pen and a highlighter, not necessarily WHAT you own in terms of brands, variety, etc.
Study blogs and videos can be great to inspire and motivate you to take your studies more seriously, or to make sure your notes are organised enough for you to efficiently work with, but the mere look or aesthetic of all these pretty and colourful products should never distract you too much from their intended purpose as an item. 📚
This might be one of the greatest messages in video form I've seen. Back when I first changed from paper notes to digital notes I searched for some tablets and all I could see was the iPad, be it the pro, the air or the basic one. Because of some issues I wasn't able to buy any of them and went with the galaxy tab s3 on sale. It was the greatest possible tablet for 2 years. I had some issues because I wasn't able to recreate some of the trends perfectly but after a while I got the hang of it and was able to create my own things instead of just following the trends!
I really appreciate this video. I am actually fairly new to the world of studytube and the more I started watching these videos, the more tempting it became to go on a shopping spree and get a bunch of new highlighters, stationary, etc. because I suddenly saw mine as old and boring--they didn't fit the "aesthetic" of a successful student, so how could I be successful? The only thing that held me back, really, was knowing how both expensive and environmentally wasteful it would be. I think your message is really important because even if it is not said explicitly, a lot of studytube videos send the message that these "things" will miraculously solve your problems. In the end though, spending money on too much stuff is bad for you (it gets overwhelming), bad for your wallet, and bad for the planet. Not saying that you shouldn't treat yourself once in a while--but get things that you will genuinely use and will genuinely add joy to your life. Personally, I've realized that salvaging an old notebook to use it for another class by redecorating the cover and doing some tweaks brings me a lot more happiness than buying a new one that may be pretty, but I have zero personal attachment to. That's just my two cents though. Thanks again for sharing your views on this in such a thoughtful way :)
What you said about certain products not being available in other countries is so true! As a bilingual student, I often tend to consume videos in English and well, most of those cute products are not even close to the basic stationary that we get around here so it kinda gets discouraging because I see those products EVERYWHERE and I feel so left out
Omg thank you so much for making this video. I was thinking of making a video where I discuss consumerism in studytube, but I hesitated making it because I was afraid I'd get hate lol. More RUclipsrs should really bring this issue to light. Great video ❤️
I'm sorry you made some of your older videos private. I enjoy your old school videos as well as your new ones. Your older videos inspired me a lot. You helped me to get better organized, and pulling out my tidier folder and notebooks motivated me to study. I started watching you around Jan. 2016, and I'm a big fan of yours past and present! tfs
The great value of your channel is not related to this or that (expensive) product, but on sharing with us a variety of approaches and methods to be an effective and efficient student. It’s about giving us multiple options to be productive. And BTW, your guidance is equally valuable when applied for work ( my case ). Keep on the good work. Thanks
I just realized that RUclips hasn't shown me one of your videos in a while (weird). I'm happy you made this video. So much of what you said applies to the planner/bullet journal community. I've always stationary, but boy did I end up buying a lot more pens because of the videos I watched lol. At some point, I just realized that I needed to get down to basics and that I didn't really need to do much extra. That "extra" leads to a bunch of procrastination and doesn't really help. Your videos were always helpful for me and they did help me try different things to better my organization. I think there's just a balance and transparency needed in the community. While I can understand that a lot of the things can't possibly be used all the time, there are a lot of impressionable minds that can't tell that difference.
Great video!
I appreciate this kind of video that talks about the negative side to RUclips, etc. Because it really is true that things are so rooted in consumerism. I’ve seen this in other RUclips communities I enjoy, like booktube, language learning, etc. There is so much focus on STUFF, but part of the reason for that is promoting things is how RUclipsrs make money, so it kinda goes hand-in-hand. I think this is something that needs to be talked bout more so that people can enjoy RUclips and certain communities without feeling lesser or worse about themselves. We need to remember that exactly what’s being promoted by influencers is not necessarily the best thing for you or anyone, that influencers will promote stuff that they don’t even necessarily use & that RUclips is all about consumerism like the rest of the world & it’s good to remind yourself not to fall into the trap that buying something is going to fix your problems.
I never got into all the aesthetics with the study community. I use simple paper, black pen and yellow highlighter, it’s not what you use it’s what you put into your study session that makes a difference!
I think it is very nice to watch how your videos have come along, from all tech stuff to just going on a "minimalistic" trend. I think minimalism is very important in studying, from how your are studying and what elements are your studying with. Great video!
This is the video students actually need!!!! Love you Mariana. And a big thank you for making this honest video. I totally agree with you.
I watch a lot of studytube content and I appreciate your honesty on this topic. I’m glad this conversation has started in the community. I think it’s really important for both the creators and viewers in Studytube to remember that this community focuses on studying and what makes it more effective and productive, and not on products. Also what works for one person does not necessarily work for everyone.
I joined this community last year. but I didnt buy any of the stationary or asthetic stuff. I only started to use notion and other apps, that are actually useful. I think this whole productivity thing is overrated (not that the tips on how to be productive are nonsense, they are useful), we spend more time watching the videos and looking around for new tips then actually procrastinating bc of other things. We focus too much on getting tips then actually focusing on the goals that really matter.
edit: I find it nice to treat yourself with something for your setup when it is an absolute necessity and you have managed to achieve a big goal. It's this nice feeling, when you know that you deserve it
I'm an educator in a low-income neighborhood and some of my students don't even have a pen and paper. They usually rely on the school to provide them but with Distance Learning things have been tough for them.
It's hard sometimes watching these kiddos try to succeed with no supplies. It honestly baffles me that some people spend so much money on pens when others can't even afford the most basic supplies
back then i remember joining the study community because i wanted to have the motivation to study. however, i just blinked and everything took a turn on ~ aesthetic ~ posts, calligraphy, the perfect flatlay, etc. i once did that, but it ate too much precious time to actually study. ever since i noticed that, i stopped using my studygram account. i felt like an alien because i wasn't having those cute flatlays or i wasn't ~ that ~ active in posting content.
i agree to your thoughts (and most of the med students/study vloggers i follow who also shared their thoughts on this). and im glad that im not the only one who thinks that way. i do hope that the creators will lessen their focus on these ~ overhyped ~ trends and be more mindful that most students on the platform do not have the luxury to buy those things.
Very good video! I recently started a studygram and, yeah, it is hard to reach out to new people in a very crowded community, but I do it for myself first. Obviously, I do pay attention to the aesthetics of my posts, but within my capibility. I'm not trying to make it perfect, just pleasing at least a bit and, hopefully, helpful. I would not buy some expensive stuff just to show it off.
I think the study community has to help people get motivated to study, but not pressure them about what they do
In my experience the people that focus more on the “aesthetics” and having perfect notes are usually the ones that don’t have the best grades.
When I was in high school, I absolutely loved those study videos, because they motivated me to learn and prepare for school. But they also kind of put pressure on me, because I felt I didn't have the right "equipment" to learn something. But I must say, more and more I watch youtube and more specifically the study video I find that imperfection is also alright with me!
I totally agree. That's why I made a video like this myself, so people don't need to buy the product in order to see if they like it and if not why is that. I think supplies are like skincare: you don't need much of it, it's fun to experiment, but at the end of the day some things may work for people that for others don't.
Great video! The thing that always frustrates me on social media (and that goes for ALL communities) is what seems to be the lack of common sense, because OBVIOUSLY not every product works for everyone, OBVIOUSLY everybody has to figure out what works for them, OBVIOUSLY everyone has different preferences, OBVIOUSLY nobody needs to purchase everything they see online, OBVIOUSLY people don't need a 2k device for taking notes, the list goes on. I feel like people always need something to argue about. Use what works for you, use what you like, use what you can afford and focus on the goal you want to achieve. Take inspiration from others if you want to, but use common sense - and have your finances in check. 😄
Completely agree, thank you so much for sharing this video!! It’s so refreshing to hear an honest viewpoint on this subject in a world that is so driven by comparison and consumer culture. It also’s liberating that this video gives confidence to those who don’t wish to follow the ‘StudyTube’ trend that what they are doing is enough and that consumer products and these trends are not the ‘make or break’ factor for being successful, so thank you😊
I had watched Jasmines video a while ago, and I agree with everything! I believed I had to get aesthetic things to be able to study better. Although it did make me excited to use them while studying or taking notes, they weren’t necessary. I bought an iPad for note taking and while it’s not necessary, I did grow to absolutely love it for notes, reading, and casual use but it’s not for everyone and with so many creators having iPads specifically (rather than some having iPads and some other kind of tablets), it does create this pressure or feeling that you need it for success.
I understand what you have said in your videos, and I think you did pointed out some very good points. But I think I will point out what the study gram did for me: I am always a creative person, but as the work from school gets heavier I felt like I was disconnected with my creative outlet, and I really bothered me. But through making "aesthetic" notes, I found this perfect common ground of school work, and it took the stress of studying away. Especially during this time of COVID, the ways I take notes really have brightened up my life.
About Consumerism: I am really glad that you pointed this out. However, many pens I use, I have purchased them years ago. I believe by purchasing higher qualities of pens, I will also be paying for a higher pay for the factory workers, and many Japanese brands are already on the tracks of "go green."
I think for such topics there are no absolute right and wrong, in our time right now, It is so easy to "cancel" something from one's split decision. It is nice to talk about the negative side of a popular trend, but also keep in mind of the benefits.
:)
Your note on it being ok to wanting to try new things, but not expect these shiny toys improve your grades is a really good point. Of course the trying new things should also be taken with caution and not impulsively. But the idea that you need this special product to do something that can be done with other products (with certain expections) is something that affects so many. I had done this a few times, and it is not good.
I've been lucky to have been given an understanding on why certain products can be better, but also taking time to decide "is this what I really need or really want?". Some products are really better, but do you need them?
I think i'd known this in my head, but i didn't put two and two together. I appreciate that you say that your criticisms are not to deter people from focusing on aesthetics but to encourage people to be upfront about their participation in consumerism. As creators, we should be aware and conscious of what we are promoting in our creative content. In addition, in this day and age where the world is suffering from fast trends, we should especially try to be conscious of the waste we are producing and try our best to be as eco-friendly as possible. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I know i'll be keeping this in mind moving forward :-)
Thank you so much for making this video! So many people needed this.
I’m glad you admitted you used to do this, because you got big on this aesthetic. I think the time people take to make such perfect notes totally distract from active recall, which is much more effective a lot of the time than recopying notes and highlighting using numerous colorful pens.
I've been watching your videos for years now and I can say I was always impressed with your colored notes, but I personally never felt like I had to adapt your entire style. It was cool to try and use, but it doesn't always seem realistic for effective studying. A lot of these trends seem very time-consuming. That being said, I've aced many classes using minimalistic styles and wanted to adapt ways of making my notes look less dull, and I knew if it took too much time to drop it immediately. I am really glad you made this video because I think this definitely could be a problem for younger students who don't know better.
Thank you for taking the time to make this video and I hope you keep reviewing products in the future! Your videos have inspired me to want to make my own videos, currently working on my channel now which is mostly anatomy coursework lol. Hopefully studying & note-taking in future :-)
I'm SO glad you addressed this issue. Thank you! It's always nice to hear your perspective ❤️
you and studyquill have been my fav yputubers and studytubers, such a coinsidence that you saw her videos
But, what about Jasmine herself? She is less 'studytee' and more 'Amanda Rach Lee'.
Thank you for a comforting post about not trying to keep up with trends.
You're simply the best. EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU MARIANA 🥺❤️
I agree with this. I got into the studytube community completely on accident, just trying to find study tips for college. Then I got sucked in and began watching these videos and feeling inadequate because I didn’t have muji notebooks and fineliners. I spend about two or three months buying some things I see in the videos.... but I saw my enthusiasm ended quickly because I couldn’t find a use for ANOTHER highlighter set or ANOTHER sticky note pad. I began to ask myself if I really needed this stuff. And the answer is no. So all I’ve got now are two sets of highlighters, a set of fineliners and a few felt tip pens, and basic cute notebooks from the dollar store. I chose not to feed into the hype because it’s too expensive and honestly not worth it. An iPad Pro will not get me through college- my work ethic and time management will.