10 Minutes of Funny

Go to YouTube, search for "America's Funniest Home Videos". You'll have like, 10 minutes of funny.

That's what my coworker said to his brother, in the middle of some conversation about some topic I already forgot. Apparently, YouTube has obviously gone to the point where you can get "10 minutes of funny" anytime. It has become the Big Brother of the Internet.

I went to the site just to get some 10 Minutes of Anti-Boredom and I ended up clicking Recommended Video after Recommended Video and what was 10 Minutes of Procrastination became 10 Minutes of Cyber-Eavesdropping. I was basically taking a glimpse out of random people's lives, knowing what they know, feeling what they feel. It was 10 Minutes of Empathy and 10 Minutes of Learning.

YouTube has changed the way people's lives are nowadays. It is in these videos that we take a look at an alternate side of life, something other than ours, something other than the people, places, and events we know. In our 10 Minutes of Discovery, we become shocked at girls throwing a bucket of puppies down rivers, we laugh at obese guys in glasses lip-synching to pop songs by O-Zone, we are amazed by kinda-old people hitting the perfect notes of a Les Miserables song.

It is in these 10 Minutes of Connectedness that we become aware of the world, we learn something, cry at something, or find something so cute we squeeze our computer screen while squealing. YouTube has become a proof that the Internet is more than a network of cables exchanging data; it has become a storage of memories, those that display emotions, passion, and reason. It is a link not between two computers but between the people sitting in front of them. 10 Minutes of Freedom is what we see, a collaborative collection of life's milestones or stumbling blocks, a constantly-changing mosaic of voices from all over the world showing how good or bad it is to live. It is 10 Minutes of Experiences on the Internet.

YouTube has become a real success, getting my attention and actually delving in quite deep thought about it. And after all, after being drenched in all of the day's work, all we need is 10 Minutes of Funny.