Press writer Nathan Graber-Lipperman reflects on his time at Creator Camp and what the New Wave means for the future of the creator industry.

As I say goodbye to my fellow campers and begin my journey home, I realize that the answer to my biggest question—is the story worth telling?—lies in two distinct but inseparable battles that the group is fighting.

The first of these battles is on YouTube itself. Now, it would require the rosiest of rose-colored glasses to pretend like the New Wave is dominating YouTube’s trending charts. MrBeast will always be an outlier, but the viewership on his last few videos alone dwarfs the entire lifelong viewership of pretty much every creator I met at Creator Camp.

But the New Wave isn’t only playing the algorithmic game when it comes to growth. When I spoke with Ryan Ng, he shared that he encourages all self-identifying New Wave creators to include #YouTubeNewWave in the descriptions of their videos. This makes it easier for audiences to find the group’s work without relying on the YouTube algorithm to serve it.

“If we could get millions of creators to make thoughtful, in-depth, meaningful content, then we don't have to move at the pace of years,” Ng expands. “Because Simon [Kim] will upload a video, and then I can upload a video a week after that, and everyone's gonna share it…we’re trying to keep up with the pace of the internet, but as a collective.”

This is how the New Wave believes they can compete in a healthy, sustainable way—keeping audiences engaged without sacrificing intimate storytelling. The YouTube New Wave gives permission to people to tell their stories, turning passive viewers into active participants.

Which brings me to the second battle: the fight against loneliness in an isolated, digital world.

As I participated in the weekend’s events, from improv classes to s’mores roasting, I saw tangible bonds formed. Attendees suggested solutions to their new friends’ creative roadblocks and made plans to visit each other. It was clear these young creators are navigating this oft-confusing odyssey together, connected through a common belief system.

During every night of camp, no one wanted to go to bed early for fear of missing a memorable moment or serendipitous sequence of conversations. The words I’d repeated a few days earlier returned: We should be asleep by now.

Everyone at Creator Camp knew just how lonely pursuing a creator career can be. The long nights and tedious edits. The industry’s penchant for chasing after the next big thing. The dopamine rush of a video performing well, followed by the inevitable 10 out of 10 that makes you question your decision to pick up a camera in the first place.

It’s past 3 a.m. We should be asleep by now. But the energy in that room was so palpable and so intoxicating. And the cold-hard fact was that the moment—with these people who understand the feelings you’re experiencing—was fleeting. 

This sense of creative community is something I’ve been searching for throughout my life, too. And it reminds me of a past conversation I had with fellow camper Anthony “Anthpo” Potero that has resonated with me deeply over time. “Creators, we all have this internal struggle where we want to just keep making things,” he told me. “And people who don’t have that desire, it’s really hard to explain that to them.”

“Like, ‘Why the f*ck would you sit at home on a Friday night and edit videos when we’re going to bars?’” Potero continued. “And I’m like, ‘I don’t know, I just want to edit this video.’”

Of course, the fight against loneliness is a universal war we’re all waging. In early May, the U.S. Surgeon General warned of a current “loneliness epidemic,” suggesting social isolation’s effects on mortality are equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes every day.

That same report also noted how social media can exacerbate feelings of loneliness. Kevin Wu, the veteran creator I’d spoken to, believes this is true for both passive consumers and those trying to make a career out of creating content.

“It's only a matter of time until people realize, ‘Okay, I can't just, like, entertain myself all day sitting around on the computer or pretend I'm gonna make money doing this,’” Wu told me. “People are going to understand that if they want to manifest happiness in their work, they have to come to a spiritual realization. And I don't think that's going to happen right away.”

Still, while the creators I talked to acknowledge the dangers of the platforms they call home, they also believe that those platforms can do more good than harm, particularly when you take those online connections from URL to IRL.

“Most of my friends…are people that I met over social media, and I think that’s a really cool dynamic,” creator Natalie Lynn told me. “Because what are the odds that you’re going to meet your best friend in your hometown? Like, there's so many people in the world to get to know, and things you could have in common.”

It sounds crazy, but then again, this is a generation that came of age with TikTok and Trump, a global pandemic, and the rise of remote work. As traditional metrics of community like religious participation and in-person office work decrease across the country, is it really all that unbelievable for young people to find community through a platform like YouTube?

Look no further than the New Wave. What started as a group of friends who stumbled into each other’s lives through the vast net of the world wide web has morphed into a legitimate movement, with an opportunity they believe could make a real impact.

This group has made it abundantly clear that they have no interest in riding the wave of the current YouTube zeitgeist, opting instead to create their own. And it seems other creators on the platform are starting to pick up the message.

One example: In a video uploaded in late April titled “THE START,” former full-time editor Mack Hopkins explained why he was launching his own channel. “I believe YouTube is still in its infancy, and there is a way to make something new…that makes people feel something,” he stated. “[Videos styled] in a way that all of the ‘YouTube experts’ say a video won’t do well because of graphs, and retention, and all of those things.”

Not long after Mack’s channel premiered (to very positive reception), I received a text from a fellow Camp attendee. “Creators are starting to join the New Wave without even realizing it,” he observed, linking Mack’s video.

Regardless, whether this vision of a more thoughtful, “meaningful” YouTube comes to pass, there’s still something beautiful that I discovered in those snowy mountains of Utah. This group, the self-proclaimed New Wave, is standing up for the ideals they believe in.

The odds are stacked against them, and who knows if or when the wave will break. But at this moment in time, they’re trying, together.

And nowadays, that might be all we can really ask for.