YouTube weirdness

So I've got a page on the YouTube - a "channel" in the YouTube lingo - but I basically don't use it. I signed on to share some stop-motion videos young Logan Chicken made with Legos, and to post some private videos of the kids for the various grandparents, aunts and uncles. But I'm not a "YouTuber". I don't have a web cam, and I don't really have any interest in getting one. But I know a couple people who do, and now they're using them. A lot. And it's sucking me in.

The fact that they're brothers probably explains it...Dan, who goes by the YouTube handle "Rafter12", lives in the midwest while brother Ben, alternately "Some Guy from Seattle" and "Simpleton's Corner", lives here in the Jet City. So the YouTube gives them a chance to talk to eachother without the added effort of typing. Or picking up the phone. Or interacting in real time. Except when they IM while recording, which is kind of surreal to watch.

I've been making my way through their videos since Dan e-mailed me and directed me to his page, and I find the experience oddly voyeuristic. Not exactly uncomfortable, but not completely comfortable either. They're both pretty personal (Dan's more than Ben's, at least so far...Dan has a series where he's giving an autobiography in installments), which contributes to the voyeurism thing. And while it's helping me know my friend and his brother better, and giving me more insight into Dan's life (and Ben's, for that matter), it still feels like I'm eavesdropping on a conversation going on at the next table at the Starbucks.