Linus on Live Stream (I've been thinking of retiring)

[Sylferion]

Just now, Flying Sausages said:

Never knew this because I am no expert in financial stuff. School didn't teach me shit about this.

Well, you learn things as you get older.

[Awesomeguy900]

Take a vacation, we'll still be here for you because you've been there for us.

[THraShArD]

Congrats on the 10mil mark. That is a major milestone.  Take a break for 2 months and travel while checking in on the road

[atxcyclist]

1 minute ago, Flying Sausages said:

Never knew this because I am no expert in financial stuff. School didn't teach me shit about this.

 

This is probably one of the biggest let-downs of getting older, realizing how much practical information I was never taught in school.

 

Couldn't do my own taxes, and didn't know anything about the legal system, but I sure learned that mitochondria is the powerhouse of a cell...

[Awesomeguy900]

Probs Mid Life  crisis, he is  50 years old

[Flying Sausages]

9 minutes ago, Sylferion said:

Well, you learn things as you get older.

I have to spend my own time and maybe pay for someone to teach me. Well, what is high school anyway? I don't even know how to file my parents's tax return, law, finance, and other real life important. You go to school, sit down in the classroom, copy whatever your teacher write on the board, read it, then you have a test next week or so. Cycle repeat throughout the whole year. Minimal connection and communication between teachers and students. All they care are tests and test scores. Some of them tell you to open your textbook and do these pages and turn it in at the end of the day like what did I learn by doing this?

[Sfekke]

Just now, atxcyclist said:

 

This is probably one of the biggest let-downs of getting older, realizing how much practical information I was never taught in school.

 

Couldn't do my own taxes, and didn't know anything about the legal system, but I sure learned that mitochondria is the powerhouse of a cell...

I ran into the same roadblock; if your parents don't help you & explain it's hard to figure things out.

• How do taxes work?
• How do I buy & insure a car?
• How do I open a pension savings account?

Stuff like that needs to be thought to children, it is so important yet it gets neglected all too often.

 

And Linus, I cannot watch this video right now but judging by the other posts it's serious.

We love you, I think I can say that!

Many of us have owe you for our hobby/passion and maybe even our career, you brought us along a journey with so much power and energy it is almost unreal!

 

If you're thinking about retiring for good, all the power to you.

We will forever be grateful for all the hours/days/weeks/etc you spent on making this content & growing your business.

 

May I suggest however what some others have in this topic, take a break.

I mean a proper "Do Not Disturb Linus" break, you have all these amazing people that work for you; get some rest & maybe you can come back swinging even stronger then before 

[ArticularSpark]

I got the notification tonight that Linus was live on YouTube tonight, and I actually had some time to tune in for once. My post here is just me adding in a message of support for Linus, in light of some of the things he discussed in the stream. I realize he did include at the end that it isn't a cry for help, or him exclaiming he's knocked down and out. Nonetheless, I still wanted to share this.

 

The stream was all of 28 minutes or so long, and there were a lot of things covered that I noticed many people in the chat were concerned about. Now, looking past the trolls spamming "F" and the people doing anything to gain attention for themselves, which were in no short supply, the chat was supportive and many people were donating for the sole reason that Linus was streaming. Anyway, a couple things stuck with me that I'll likely not forget, the most prominent of which was the story Linus shared of the Make-a-Wish Foundation reaching out to him about a sick child, who's wish was to meet Linus. I suppose for the sake of being as brief as possible, I'll only talk about this for the rest of the post. The short version is that the child's condition worsened, and the plans they were originally coming up with had to be cancelled due to a rapidly-worsening condition. Linus told us he was asked to record a personal video for them. Linus agreed, and likened it to the fact he records videos every day, and thought he would handle it alright. His words to us were that he pulled his phone out, went to record and... He froze, as he couldn't think of anything to say. He went on to talk to us about how it weighed on him heavily at that moment, particularly after reading through the guidelines sent to him for the video. He then cried, and tried to express how painful it was to try and put together something for a 12-year-old who was terminally ill, and... Well, a lot of us, myself at that time included, were really concerned and sympathetic.

 

Once again, to be brief, I'll try to shorten my recap, and get on with what I really wanted to say with the post. I may speak for myself here, but I'm positive countless others will agree that no one on this planet should go through that. Millions of us love and support you and everything you do, and your expression of your thoughts tonight make us think no less of you. I speculate that my words here may come across as pointless validation, but it is the truth. You've helped us learn, entertained us, and in some cases, you've given us something that has been life-changing. I wouldn't have my job today with Best Buy without you, NCIX, or every member of Linus Media Group. With your videos you've brightened the minds of people for more than a decade, and more people are still arriving to your channel today. We're all grateful for you. No matter what you decide to do, or where you decide to go, you'll always have our support.

 

I really should be off to bed now, but I may add on in the morning if any other thoughts arise over the course of tonight.

 

I wish you the best,

Austin

[KBS666]

I hope I can help a little, I signed up for the forum just to post this.

 

I was very sick for a very long time. When I was healthy I was a programmer and kind of absorbed tech info by osmosis. But suddenly I wasn't going to work every day and hearing about and working with tech.  3 days a week I spent 4 hours a day in a bed immobile. There is a limit to how many Netflix shows I could watch. I was going absolutely nuts.

 

The clinic I had to spend all that time at finally got WiFi and I could watch YouTube. I don't precisely remember when I found LTT but it was something like 2013. Linus still did unboxings but it gave me a connection to tech that I had lost. In 2018 I finally got my transplant but that meant months recovering. I think I watched every LTT video on YT. 

 

Linus has brought me information and a connection to a life I was separated from, with a fair amount of laughs and cringes, and for that I will always be grateful to him, and everyone there as well.

 

[InsomniMac]

I just wanna say.

Linus.

You have a legion of people willing to lay flat on highways for you. We're largely a silent majority, but we're just looking for you to point and say, "Go here, we're stopping THIS road".

We're all just waiting to help out. You've put 150% into your work for years, you can't watch a single LTT video without seeing THE WORK. You've helped scores of people, and not just passively, directly a bundle of times.

It's time to cash those chips in. Youtube's in a weird place right now, your company is killing it in a world that seems hopeless. It's January, seasonal depression is in full swing, but this is a great point to look at what you're doing and go, "Fuck, I can take the easy road, there's people who'll back me up".

You have a small empire of followers. You have a deeper sense of meaning and care in what you're doing, and the products you see day in and day out are messing with you. The business models you see are wearing you down and you have bigger hopes than that. You have dreams.

You pour yourself into your work and make connections there because your work is THE dream, it's a fantasy - a group of people telling the truth about products that will save them time. Some people build bridges, some people go to space, but it's all to respect other people's time. It all adds up. It might seem like your contributions are small, but they aren't, because you reach so... many... people. Way more than any single bridge anywhere.

There's a lot of avenues, some of which seem grimy - but you've put in the work. You've slaved ENOUGH. You know this business better than freakin' anybody at this point.

Pick a project. Something big but easy. Outsource a lot of it - there's a legion of people who are willing to help you.

Youtube getting you down? Make a new youtube. Sounds crazy, but you know more about server tech than anybody, and youtube's been drowning in crazy lately.
Kickstarter? I've got LTT fans in my computer, which I built based on your recommendations. I've built an entire camera rig based on your work. If you say it's a good PC part, I'm buying it. Hell if you just built 1 computer at $1000 and kept it constantly updated, I'd never choose my own parts again. I'll just freakin' buy it.
Wanna be doing more for the people? That tree-firing cannon, while amusing, that's on the road. You know how to run a project, you build a non-profit company you can change the freakin' world, and we'll back you.

A really easy one - write a book. I know, it sounds monumental.

Hire a ghost-writer, and dictate it. Just... rant away about tech, about your experiences, about how you analyze a computer system. I'll preorder that book and it's easy to sell a book. It's a grooved path. I've bought several from other YT'ers and they were "meh" but I was just waiting for an opportunity to throw money at them.

Critical Role, I've bought 3 of their books and did their kickstarter. I wasn't even into those books. I just felt it was due for the time I spent watching their stuff.

That's what most people feel - they just want to support your projects. Those items sit on a shelf and we just feel good about throwing money at somebody who's worked that hard.

Wanna cut down your content? Great - just take the presumption that we will follow your advice on 1 product every year. You say this is the best phone, I buy that phone. You've got the credibility. You're the authority on tech these days, so trim down what you're doing to what you want to be doing. I wanna see whatever crazy projects you come up with and I don't mind if they're haphazard or sketchy in nature. I don't think anybody does.

You can start small. Your fans were a GREAT start, something easy and cheap that anyone can buy and benefit from. That's a product. Just your refinements alone are enough, I don't even need to watch the video. I know it's legit when you and your company say it's legit.

You're right to be thinking of retirement, your life.... matters more than this. If you have to take drastic action, take it.

But take the gravy train, pick an easy project and give us opportunities to throw money at you directly, because we will. We see the work every day. Just let all that work you've done studying these things and start pumping out something that'll help YOU.

Anyway, you do you Linus, we're always here listenin'. There's always people who want to hear what you're up to and what we can do to be slaying it as hard as you are every day.

Thank you for your time and contributions to the tech community.

Edited January 23, 2020 by InsomniMac

[banana_havoc]

Not going to lie, @ 36 and climbing with a couple of walking petri dishes to call my own, and a job I'm spend too much time worrying about, this hit me right in the feels. 

[atxcyclist]

6 minutes ago, Sfekke said:

I ran into the same roadblock; if your parents don't help you & explain it's hard to figure things out.

• How do taxes work?
• How do I buy & insure a car?
• How do I open a pension savings account?

Stuff like that needs to be thought to children, it is so important yet it gets neglected all too often.

I got a lot of these lessons early, started working at 15 and filing my taxes, learned to balance a checkbook, thankfully haven't had to learn the legal system (I know enough but not through practical experience), but school really is a bit of a sham. I graduated a while back too, and I hear it's getting worse; The only goal of schools now is to teach enough to pass standardized tests, because a high percentage of students passing the tests insures the school remains funded. Practical knowledge isn't important, which is a shame. Education should cover legitimate information that a person will need after they graduate.

[Awesomeguy900]

3 minutes ago, comander said:

It's been obvious that Linus was riding a wave that was wearing him down. 

I've had a somewhat similar (but to a much lesser) mid-life crisis. 
I've gotten everything that 15 year old me wanted... Where do I go next? Most of my insecurities have been addressed. 

I personally want to take a sabbatical but I can't (currently supporting myself and my mother and trying to save up a downpayment for a house in a place where prices start at $1M). I get the feeling that Linus COULD.

He should probably go spend 1 week sitting alone, doing almost nothing (meditation), almost bored and then do something he wants to do for another 1-2 months. 

For what it's worth Intel does this for their employees. https://blogs.intel.com/jobs/2009/12/intels_seventh_inning_stretch_8_week_paid_sabbaticals/

i agree

[viper1884]

Linus, if you happen to read this, whenever you decide to retire I hope you pop in for guest spots on LTT videos from time to time. Would hate to no longer see you around. Plus us socks and sandal people gotta represent the ultimate footwear. 

[Sylferion]

15 minutes ago, Flying Sausages said:

I have to spend my own time and maybe pay for someone to teach me. Well, what is high school anyway? I don't even know how to file my parents's tax return, law, finance, and other real life important. You go to school, sit down in the classroom, copy whatever your teacher write on the board, read it, then you have a test next week or so. Cycle repeat throughout the whole year. Minimal connection and communication between teachers and students. All they care are tests and test scores. Some of them tell you to open your textbook and do these pages and turn it in at the end of the day like what did I learn by doing this?

Idk yet, I'm in college, but I already know things to do in public, voting, tax paying, etc. The thing I know is finishing a degree will make things a little bit easier, well that's the case here in my country, I'm a graduating student btw, and from what I've seen so far, true learning will start after you graduate. Studying is just a milestone to achieve better heights. Bear with it, life is not easy. I learned more things through searching in internet and going with friends outside while having an average grade. The best thing I learned from school is how to read and write. That's it.

[Jet_ski]

@Linus I hope you keep doing the WAN show, I’ve been watching it for so long that... I have no friends right now as all of my friends moved away and the WAN show makes me feel like I’m hanging out with friends. Wish you the best.

[Theorica]

10 million subs is a fairly significant event that is sure to be an emotional ride. I feel privileged that he's shared his feelings. If anything, I think he deserves to do as he wishes without any of us worrying about the business. Him and Yvonne built a damn solid group of individuals who can carry the brand(s)/channels and lighten the load on their shoulders and enter the era of fun instead of stress and long hours.

The work / life balance problem is a very real one and I can totally relate to that.

LTT and friends are some of my few favourite things and will continue to support them.

I'm a single dad of two and when that happened over 10 years ago, Linus and later Luke and everyone else was there and in a very strange way, helped me through some very dark times. What a strange and wonderful thing that is. 

My kids both, son and daughter now watch and are finally big enough to wear small sized merch. haha. Guess who's been told he needs to buy some merch again? And that's great!

I don't have to worry about the content in that way because the trust is there and I don't have to worry about the content as far as everything else goes because again, the trust is there. For me, this is pretty special.

So congratulations LTT on 10 million subs! Here's to your love of tech and what you've done with it. I look forward to seeing you, Linus and and the crew at LTX20!

Cheers to him, his family, the LTT team at LMG, Floatplane and the fans! Thanks for all the small and large ways in how you've all been a part of helping me be a better dad. Seriously. 

[Jayl0cked]

A letter to Linus:
First off - Thanks for all the laughs and drops (lol) over the past 10 years Linus. You've always done things your way and forged ahead and that's made things interesting to watch! Congrats on 10M!

I hear you though about real life problems versus you just being a youtube channel that sells some computer hardware at the end of the day we all know that. But, even if you don't realize it's more than that when it comes from you.

 

I do hope you take more time off and spend time with your kids, engage in their passions, and show interest in their hobbies because honestly man in life your kids and wife are the most important thing and that's all you got at the end of the day. They're the ones that are going to remember you and those little moments like that time dad and I drove to my spelling B or baseball practice or whatever are the most important. I know i cherish the drives to hockey practice and soccer practice, drum lessons, etc with my dad i learned a lot about life from him on those drives. It wasn't about the sports or the activities it was about the time with my dad The channels will be fine and all of your hard work has paid off your staff are amazing and the channels imo have never had better content in all the years

You can genuinely tell when you didn't go to CES this year the content felt fresh because you weren't there on no sleep feeling burnt out trying to deal with company stuff while filming videos that are written on the spot, etc, Riley, James and Alex did a fantastic job. Every time you come back from a vacation the content you film the week back is always better imo. I can tell you have a renewed passion again. The videos lately with Alex on the red camera rebuild and the checking out the equipment and how Alex is using it shows you can tell you're a bit like a proud dad watching his staff grow up.

 

Here's why it matters more coming from you:
Ultimately though Linus. You are a beacon. Content like yours paved the way for more creators and you've popularized and made it acceptable socially to be a big nerdy geeky kid who likes computers and wears socks and sandals. It's because of your face in mainstream youtube culture that kids watch and go hey it's okay to be me. It's okay to stand up for what I believe in and to love what I love and be comfortable doing it. You've taught me to be more comfortable in my skin and care less about what others think about me. And I am willing to bet there many young kids who are lost in middle school who see one of your videos and then follow your channel and come to realize that there is more out there and there is hope for them. You may not realize it  but you provide that hope. And you do it by being authentically, unapologetically YOU and dude I appreciate you.

The main thing is Linus no matter what you do or where you go people will be there to support you because you are honest and genuine and those of us who've been fans over the years we know it and we support you because we respect what you got to say and the place it comes from. Yea a kid just building a computer along with a Linus guide might not seem like a lot but it truly does make a difference and now that you are and have been in a position to be recognized by a sick and dying kid whose make a wish was to work with Linus on his wish that's the moments in life you get to relish in your hard work and success and realize you truly did make a difference. Even if a very little one - you've left a mark on this earth Linus even if it's one kid getting a bit of joy out of a computer to take away the pain of his shitty circumstance in the great poker game of life then it is worth it. You've made a difference.
I know we've never met in person but I respect what you got to say and even when I don't always agree with you I always want to hear what you think or what you believe because your thoughts have substance and value and come from a genuine place of honesty and good moral value and I appreciate that. And the awesome thing is we get to have a laugh often at your expense because of it

 

I feel like we'd be good friends and be able to have some good debates over tea or something.

At the end of the day though thank you Linus for building the "little tech review company that could..." for hiring great staff who have a vision and mind of their own. Thank you for the content and i can't wait to see what's next for Channel Super Fun or LTT or the next scrap yard wars like project. Here's to another 10M LTT subscribers whether or not you're the face we see or someone else I am sure we will always hear a good old fashioned too high pitched Linus rant one way or another

 

Congratulations! 10M
 

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

Linus if you're reading this. Just know you've helped so many people. Even though the make wish story was sad, just realize you've impacted so many others when they have been in thier low point in thier life, so never think what you're doing is not important, it is to someone out there who regularly comes back to your channel and just forgot about the problems in thier. That had to be worth it. 

 

It's alright to take a break, but I watch wan show regularly for your commentary, not necessarily for tech news, so if you do take a break, it's your opinion I miss the most, since they've always matched my own, but don't quit, there's not a lot of you in todays age of YouTubers not being truthful to thier audience. 

 

Just remember you'll always be the fact of PC, the one person everyone around links or talks about when talking about tech, you're basically keanu Reeves of PC TECH. 

 

This hits me more because just Sunday I had mentioned about how glad I am LTT had remained constant since the beginning. 

 

Spoiler

 

[RejZoR]

I'd say main reason is that what Linus does with LTT is "industrial" production of videos. It's not like "hey, this graphic card is awesome and I'm gonna make video on it". He (or LTT) is constantly under pressure to provide content on regular basis and that's what always gets you. It goes from hobby that makes you happy and fulfilling to a job that eventually makes you miserable and you start questioning things. It's actually interesting that even though they have so much staff, Linus still appears in like 95% of main channel videos and I bet that's stressful and tiring.

 

Would certainly understand if he "retires" now and only appears for things he likes and wants to be part of, like something really goofy like watercooling a camera. There are other people who appeared along with Linus and they were pretty cool as presenters of whatever they filmed so I'd be fine with that. They also have personalities just like Linus, some are calm like Anthony and Alex, others are goofy like Riley or James. I'd perfectly understand if he does this and LTT would probably be fine going in the future.

[Sfekke]

1 hour ago, atxcyclist said:

I got a lot of these lessons early, started working at 15 and filing my taxes, learned to balance a checkbook, thankfully haven't had to learn the legal system (I know enough but not through practical experience), but school really is a bit of a sham. I graduated a while back too, and I hear it's getting worse; The only goal of schools now is to teach enough to pass standardized tests, because a high percentage of students passing the tests insures the school remains funded. Practical knowledge isn't important, which is a shame. Education should cover legitimate information that a person will need after they graduate.

Couldn't agree more.

I did learn stuff like that once I got a job,  and if I was unsure; google's your friend

58 minutes ago, Sylferion said:

Idk yet, I'm in college, but I already know things to do in public, voting, tax paying, etc. The thing I know is finishing a degree will make things a little bit easier, well that's the case here in my country, I'm a graduating student btw, and from what I've seen so far, true learning will start after you graduate. Studying is just a milestone to achieve better heights. Bear with it, life is not easy. I learned more things through searching in internet and going with friends outside while having an average grade. The best thing I learned from school is how to read and write. That's it.

True, if you put some effort in yourself and have a keen eye for learning that stuff it does unravel more quickly.

I do have to honest and say I'm a high-school dropout, for a number of reasons but I'm not gonna get into it too much.

So my education itself is pretty low, but that didn't stop me from learning English, French & doing volunteer work and eventually getting unpaid internships in IT departments/computer stores. Until I started work as an IT Consultant.

I was the youngest person they hired, with no degree. That didn't stop me from giving it my all, taking tasks my older/more experienced colleges couldn't complete & I'm quoting them "He did some Sven magic and got it to work".

My point is, don't let school hold you back.

You can, take it from me.

 

I don't look back often on my past, because I wasn't able to who I wanted to be; I only found myself recently and if you're in that same boat know that you will find yourself & your place in this world!

Age will hold you back, people will scoff at you & you'll get absolutely stamped but all you need is a few chances to shine!

 

To be more on topic for the last bit, it is amazing to see how much people support Linus!

That 10 million mark is absolutely amazing, it isn't a small feed and you should be proud of it!

There are clearly a lot of people who due to medical reasons or otherwise still got their computer nerd itch scratched by you.

We're here to support you, in more ways than monetary!

[GDRRiley]

I felt for him and a lot of what the video was about.

I'm about to go back to my daily grind of college to wait for the weekend or 2 a month I get to see my girlfriend. I'm doing school, trying to have a decent side gig of video work (not youtube but for clients. I've got some vidoes planned or shot but IDK if they will see youtube).

I had this happen 2 years ago where I was so tired and burnt out I didn't want to do shit. I want to sleep, cook, travel and be around my girl.

 

 

I got focused on him complaining about consumerism. I would loved to see more used hardware vidoes come out from that. FreeGeek, building budgets servers, NAS,building a PC on low budgets. How to do well on ebay.

 

Maybe get the gear people in more, add in some camera or audio gear.

[hammerquill]

Linus - I happened to catch the last minute of your livestream, and it woke me up, and I watched the whole thing immediately.

 

A lot of people here are saying great things - I've only read a little of it. Here was my main reaction, though.

 

When you say "it doesn't matter what you do in life, it matters who you do it with" I get it that you are emphasizing the second half of that sentence, and it's great. But the first half ... well, it can matter what you do in life. You can make it matter. And you especially can make it matter, because you have leveraged your passion into a position of influence, where what you say even in passing can matter to a lot of people, and can help shape the Conversation in your space and perhaps beyond.

 

You are talking about how you hate waste, and see how awful some of the effects of consumerist culture are, even while you're part of the hype train. But with your position as an influencer you can actually have an effect on that. At the very least, when you do an unboxing give the subject the time to say "What the sh*t, Intel [or whoever], I know everyone else is doing it, and it makes things 0.3% faster in the factory, but can you please stop putting a million little throwaway plastic bags in everything? I want my kids to be able to take their kids to the beach!" If we - and the manufacturers - started hearing that regularly from reviewers with your presence, they might start paying attention. And if your viewers started hearing that, they might pay the extra bit of attention needed to write to the manufacturers too. It can make a difference.

 

Beyond this, one of the things I come here for is not to bling out my next build (I'd love to build computers every week but I only need the one and don't want to replace it all the time, even if I had the money to); it's to get an idea of where the industry is going, as a very small time investor. But one thing I can never find information on for most potential investments is their actual real-world environmental track record and practices. You, in your limited but high-visibility field, could leverage your influence and the team you've built to do some diligent journalism on the subject. Right at the heart of one of the biggest hype/shill nexi in the world (tech reviews on youTube), you've done a pretty good job of proving your independence. If you want to make it so, this could be one of the meanings of the company and structures you've built: a serious journalistic entity with influence in the tech world. There are some others, but don't let that stop you. If I saw you take time on your invited factory tours to ask about their waste stream, or to ooh and ahh over what they're doing right with respect to the environment, or to call them out on reports of what they're doing wrong... I would call that both a public (world) service and a great value add for your channel. Maybe if you got traction with that kind of reporting you could even influence others to do it for other industries, since it surely needs doing.

 

And back to the small scale. Or the small scale that can be big. Though you won't change the culture of consumerism, even in your sphere, overnight in any big way, you can push it in the right direction, by keeping mentioning the things that actually matter, in between and around the RGB. Mentioning that, you know, it's actually great to get something durable that'll last you a while - a power supply that will last you through your next four builds or whatever - is not just good because it saves you a few dozen dollars, but is Good for bigger reasons, because those new units don't need to get built to replace ones going to a landfill, and reducing is better even than reuse and recycling... this can get people thinking, and maybe get them to build those thoughts into their habits. Since a lot of your audience is just now establishing the habits and frames of mind that will take them into early adulthood, this can be a big deal.

 

Thanks for the heartfelt stream. Thanks for the channel. Thanks for caring about other things, maybe even as much as you care about tech, and thanks for letting us know that once in a while.

[Zaro27]

I feel like LTT minus Linus is still going to exist, but it'd be sad to see him go forever. I hope he pulls back a little from the channel that bears his name, at least for some time. I imagine a few months off would do Linus some good. Regardless of what he does, I'm glad that he's made the channel and I've enjoyed the ride.

[HarmInTrying]

Just in case Linus happens to have a look at this... 

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/mark-neskar-763b2017

Talk to Mark. I think it would be worth your time. This is my room mate's dad, extremely well versed in running companies and not letting it consume his life. I would hate to see you entirely walk away from this digital empire you've created; it makes people's lives a touch better, whether those of your employees or your viewers, however, it should not be to the detriment of your eudaimonia.  

 

Thanks.