Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the related readings and studies on the topics associated with the

research problems, also part of the research is the related literature and studies that the researcher

gathered insights for the study. This also includes the studies considered to strengthen the concepts.

To attain a deeper and better understanding of the present study, various literatures relevant and

related to the study was extensively read and analysed. Such as related works of a number of local

and foreign authors and other researches and studies derived from related books, journals and other

references such as the internet which are all necessary in the framing of the concept of study.

A Brief History of Vlogging.

Vlogging has become a mainstream the past few years it gives people their ability to speak

freely about their own opinions and happenings about their life. The first video logs were shot in

the bedroom of the vloggers because according to the Vloggers bedroom creates authenticity and

intimacy to the viewer that contributes to today’s art of vlogging. Lonelygirl15 is one of the first

YouTube sensation in the early rise of vlogging in YouTube, the content of her videos are about

how lonely her life is. The audience support and watch her in every videos she uploaded from her

YouTube channel and comments advices supporting her and encourage her to fight. However,

Lonelygirl15 confess that she is an actress and the content of her videos are not her real life it is

just a reenactment of the script that she have. From then YouTube vlogging starts to grow and

many YouTuber start to rise in the world of social media. Giving the audience entertainment,
advices, tutorials, and stories, they want to know and hear. Later on, Philippines embrace the

evolution of social media and many Filipino starts to vlog and upload videos of their own creation.

Despite the deception, the format became the temples most others would follow one or two

hosts up close and personal, speaking directly to the camera, leaning in as if speaking across the

table friend. From there on out, top Youtube stars (also known as content creators, Youtubers, or

Youtube influencers and vloggers) have leveraged the vlog format to build audiences numbering

in the millions. Word vlogging short for “video blogging” is the daily practice of capturing and

sharing vlogs characteristically featuring a vlogger shooting themselves at arm’s length throughout

their everyday activities.

The Vlogging Cure

Confessional videos are common when it comes to vlogging because all the creator or

vloggers knows that when they signed up to be a youtube influencers time will come that they will

share their inner emotion to the social media world and viewers. Last May 2, 2017 an article is

published in the website of psychologytoday.com by Carly Lanning. It tackles about the benefits

and pitfalls of public confessional attach to the stigma of Mental Illness. The said article compiled

different vlogs with different creators talking about Mental Health, sharing their own experience

on their own mental illness or about their family, friends, and love ones who is suffering in

different kind of mental illness. Up to today talking about mental health or illnesses is very hard

for some people but for the youtube creators it is their way of helping others or to raise awareness

that mental illness is not a choice. For them they are using their platform to reach on other and to

tell them that they are not alone, that they are worth fighting for.
 Anna Akana a Asian-American vlogger with 2.4 million subscribers uploaded a vlog last

2015 about her sister who committed suicide and what she really felt at that moment. The

confession vlog gathered millions of views and thousands of comments relating to the vlog Anna

uploaded. A lot of viewers showed empathy through comments and commenting Anna inspired

them because of her words. Some also say negative comments.

Through vlogging many youtube personality can reach out to the people who are in need and afraid

to open up on other people.

Emotion Regulation and Coping via Media Use

This research focus on how a certain media content fulfill the different needs of the people.

According to Zillmann (2000) mood management and mood adjusted theory shows that the

exposure of people to various forms of media can be a means of regulating or manipulating their

emotional mood or psychological arousal. The said theories about mood regulation using media

noted that some individuals are not aware of how they are using media as a way to regulate their

emotions (Schramm & Wirth, 2008). Coping is a term used to identify many ways to attempt or

overcome problems or different types of difficulties. Many individuals choose the media to help

them cope with negative life events. Media can provide a temporary distraction to the people who

are dealing with their problems. They may seek shelter for their negative emotion by escaping to

the real world and find comfort to the virtual world where they can immerse themselves into a

alternative affective experience (Yee, 2006). Using media as a coping mechanism does not requires

a positive media content. Media users may expose themselves to negative media content for them

to feel socially understood and socally superior. Study of Mares and Cantor (1992) found out that
lonely older adults are more motivated to watch negative portrayals of old age than nonlonely older

adults. Media is one of the tool for coping they supply negative emotional experiences with

positive ones, but some research also found out that some media users seek out content likely to

sustain their negative emotional experiences or create.

All the research and examples of this stufy point to how people use media as a tool for

personal emotional regulation or in other words a intrinsic emotion regulation (Gross 2014).

Understanding the concept more about when to use media for extrinsic emotional regulation in

social contexts will be a useful area for future researches.

The Demographics of YouTube

Youtube reaches millions of audience around the world since the day it established to the

world wide web, according to the statistics comscore data gathered 81.2 percent of the Internet

users in the U.S. Ages 18-24 or about 31.8 million users of YouTube tend to spend more time

using the said application who spent an average of 10 hours and 15 minutes on the site. In addition,

Beauty and style is one of the top and popular category when it comes to the views, there are 582

millions monthly view across its top 100 channel according to OpenSlate. Those channels attract
largely female crowd: 17.2 percent of viewers are girl ages 13-17 while 39.9 percent are women

ages 18-24, and 16.9 are women 25-34 years of age.

The Bar Graph below shows the percentage of viewership of 100 YouTube beauty & styles

channels and genre according to their gender and ages.

Health Vlogs as Social Support for Chronic Illness Management

A qualitative study was conducted on how video blogs has a positive impact on patient

education. This study analyzed 72 vlogs on YouTube by users who are diagnosed with diabetes,

HIV, or cancer and 1,274 comments posted on tose vlogs to understand the perspective of the

viewers on the vlogs. They found out that unique vlogs or video medium establishes a enriched

personal and contextual discloure to the viewers that leads to a strong community-building and

social support activities among vloggers and commenters both informationally and emotionally.
Moreover, many individuals and organiation produce their own vlogs that contain health-reated

materials for patient support. The vlogs include videos of patients that talks about their

experiences, or health professionals explaining the symptoms, treatments, strategies for

prevention, and health promotion videos that will help the people to understand more what is

behind on a illness. In addition, researchers also have found that health vlogs can impact patients’

psychological health (Song et al. 2012), promote health education for young adults and youth

(Norman and Yip 2012), and can improve health information literacy ( Greenberg and Wang

2012). This study suggest that vlogs have a great potential to improve the ability to self-manage

of the patients and their wellness.

VLOG(G)ING SINO KA MAN: On Vlogs and Created Filipino Identities

This study was conducted by a Mass Communication student from University of the

Philippines last June 2017. This study point out how the world of Youtube continue to evolve and

the Filipinos along with it. Blog become video blogs or what we call vlogs that include space for

implications and streotypes to emerge.

The purpose of this study is to seek answer to a theoretical inquiry: What Filipino Identity

is created according to the Filipino-centric content of the vlogs and the personalities of the vloggers

themselves? Using a comparative textual analysis, the researcher based the analysis to the

semiotics and Sikolohiyang Pilipino as framework. “Pakikipagkapwa” is succesfully presented as

a dominant ideology that defines how a Filipino should be. “Kapwa” is a filipino identity that was

presented as a stereotype justified wherein a individuals peceive, unerstand, and explain an

situation, or arranging the result of the situation being maintained. (Jost & Banaji, 1994).
Every vlogger in the Philippines plays a vital role when it come to the creation of a perception and

proliferation of the stereotypes, although unintentionally or unknowingly, because of the signs and

sybols they portray and present in their produced video or content.

The conclusion of the study after a thorough analysis the researcher found that the concept

of “Pakikipagkapwa” regarding as kapwa is diluted into two socially accepted values of the

Filipinos the concept of “Utang na loob” and “karangalan”. Utang na loob is known to be a

Filipino staple and tapping into this social norm was almost impossible because of the other

concept of Filipino which is the “hiya” as a driving force. Hiya is the force that keeps the value of

Utang na Loob in the society, hiya has been reinforced with its indigenoous meaning as the sense

of propriety. Lynch (1961, cited in Pe-Pua & Protacio-Marcelino, 2000) defined theh hiya as an

uncomfortable feeling that accompanies awareness of being in socially unacceptable position, or

performinga socially unacceptable action (p.55).

The researcher noted that, food is one of the very important aspecto of every Filipino life (Kittler,

Sucher & Nelms, 2012). The researcher discovered thaht almost all the vlogs she analyzed they

never miss out the traditional sharing of the food with kapwa and the food itself. One out of six

vloggers the researcher analyzed who did not depict eating as a communal activity, and the reason

is because she is immersed in a non-traditional living arrangement set up. But on the other hand

that same vlogger knows the changing roles of a woman in the family that defies the gender

hierarchy and still maintains the utang na loob as an endearing value of a breadwinner. She depicts

the “ karangalan” honor and dignity as a that will keep up the image of being a modern educated

Filipina (Medina, 2001, cited in Pe-Pua & Protacio-Marcelino, 2000). Karangalan employs

pakikipag kapwa as a theme. There are two definitions of karangalan, “puri” or honor frow within

and “dangal” or honor from without, these two definitions of karangalan supports the proliferation
of the great cultural divide. The researchers uses also the three dimension of being Filipino by

Yacat (2005) in analyzing the different people that vlogs about filipino. Mikey Bustos a Filipino-

Canadian vlogger in the Philippines represents all the three dimension of “kinalakhan” or cultural

dimension, “pinagmulan” socio-politial dimension, and the “kamalayan” psychological

dimension. Based on the data the researcher gathered and analyzed, all the six of the vloggers she

studied manifest a similar and varying Filipino values that all root to the Filipino as Kapwa.