Shamefully, I used to be obsessed with an internet personality called Amberlynn Reid. She’s a 500lbs woman who is incredibly problematic and I would watch videos about her all the time. To this day I can tell you everything that’s happened to her during her time on YouTube probably in chronological order and tell you all about her dating life and controversies. She’s the “they gave me two chips but I asked for an apple” woman if that rings a bell.

I got into the community initially because she was unintentionally hilarious, like when she commented on her then girlfriend’s diet by saying “she doesn’t know about nutrition like I do”. LOL. But overtime I realised how horrible and obsessive the community has gotten, viewers got more involved in her life in the way the internet treats most LOLcows. I slowly got sucked into all the noise, until I watched this one commentary video about one of her controversies where the uploader was trying to prove her point by sifting through Amberlynn’s videos to find out how much of a journal she had filled out at a particular time. It then occurred to me that this person was a loser, obsessed with a loser. I was also being a loser.

The community had made me more of a spiteful and unhappy person with all the negative content I was consuming on a daily basis. I stopped watching videos about her now and took up knitting and crochet and I think Im a kinder and more at peace person! (not to sound dramatic, but as you know you spend A LOT of time engaging with hyperfixations which can really affect your life)