Analysis Of Let's Go To The Videotape

It’s hard to keep up with the beat of the world. Everything is at one's fingertips, one only has to press a button. This is true for Nick, a father of a five-year old son, named Gus, who was filmed riding a bicycle. Nick shared the video with his friends, who shared it with more friends. Soon the video and Nick’s life got out of hand. As Nick found in Let’s Go To The Videotape the media can distract, manipulate, and publicize life in many ways. Some may argue that Nick needed the media to lean on in order to get through the struggle of raising his son without his wife. However, Nick gets too attached and ignores his son’s wishes altogether by the end of the story. “Gus put his forehead on the desk. But Nick had already hit upload. And watched the friends roll in” (pg. 77).
For Nick the media was a distraction. It all began with Nick holding the camera to videotape his son riding his bicycle, missing being in the moment altogether. “There was, also, a hint of disconnect that afflicts people who are filming an event instead of participating in it” (pg. 72). This wasn’t the only time in the story that Nick missed being part of Gus’s life. Nick decided to stay up to

Nick meets many people through his social media even though he doesn’t know anything about them personally. As soon as Nick posts something about his life all his fake friends instantly comment their sympathy. “I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Sounds like you’re doing an amazing job” (pg. 75). This gives Nick encouragement, but not the right kind. A total stranger cannot look beyond the sugarcoated life Nick is sharing with his social media. The media manipulated Nick and took the place of Nick’s wife, “Maybe the Internet really was his new girlfriend” (pg. 73). Due to the media taking the place of a person in Nick’s life, the media can shape and reprioritize things in Nick’s life without him even realizing