You know i think it is a very difficult subject. There is no doubt that Youtube is a huge problem with not just Magic, but anything that involves skill and closely guarded secrets.
I think we have to be very careful when classing what you were referring to as "kids". Not so much for cause of insult, but rather because its far too pinpointed.
Look at it this way, the younger, and less knowledgable of the world that you live in, the more you want to learn and the more you try to take in. Kids between 12 and 16 say, have an incredibly strong desire for knowledge, because it elevates them, in their minds, to the intellectual level of adults and older teenagers. When you are younger you want to be accepted into a group, its natural. Just like learning to run, toddlers try to run before they have learnt to walk or even stand properly and therefore will, inevitably, fall over.
This is why 'kids' generally find it harder, and take longer, to learn things, because they do not see the importance of learning the basics and foundations that they need to progress onto the 'eye candy' that attracts them in the first place.
Youtube is a catylyst for the globalisation of Magic, among other cultures/arts/entertainment forms. It allows these over-inquisitive 'kids' to have access to a huge source of tutorials, exposures, hints/tips etc. We all know the true damage that is done when just one person releases the secret to a trick, a huge chain unfolds as people see it and have the desire (however pathetic it may be) to attract people to their own personal channel, and so therefore mimic the first exposure they saw, for their own ends.
But Youtube is not all to blame for this. The media stars are the original villians in this controversial argument. Im talking about the likes of David Blaine, Criss Angel and all of the people who have encouraged Magic to be seen as something completely accessible and easy, rather than a traditional art form of skill and knowledge. I don't have anything against Mr Blaine, in fact i rather like his performances, but i think that with all his huge stunts, he has attracted both the wrong and right people to have an interest in Magic.
Hes practically a household name, and this incredible fame is so attractive to kids that they think if they learn a few tricks off youtube they will become just like him. A quote i heard a while ago summarises the result of this: "Once you make somebody your idol, you lose all chance of becoming better than them." And this is the real problem, because these 'newbies' go to youtube and they do find exposure videos without much effort. They substitute quality for quantity and learn dozens of tricks without perfecting several, or mastering the basics.
And the chain continues, more kids see these sub-par performances and think that is the correct way to pull of a trick, and then they produce a video showing them performing it as bad or worse than the original exposure video they saw. And the true meaning, the true image of magic is degraded, and continues to erode as time goes on, because these kids aren't educated properly.
We live in a world of technology, and because there is so much interaction with technology from an early age, kids and teenagers sway towards the easy, lazy way of gaining knowledge; Youtube. Nobody learns from books anymore, and nobody takes the time to listen to the people who really do know what they are talking about.
I'm not saying that kids shouldn't be allowed to learn magic, but i agree with Cedric when he said that they should be taught by professionals, so that they learn Magic by reading, listening and watching.
Steve
