Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a full-time YouTuber?

WonderWhy is an educational YouTuber who has made videos about a variety of topics, including politics, history, geography, and more. As of this time of writing, he has just under 700,000 subscribers and recently resumed making videos after a 7-month hiatus. He currently has 29 videos with over 1 million views, with a combined view total of 89.5 million. 

This is an iNews exclusive interview with WonderWhy.

What made you want to start doing YouTube?

I had a lot of free time and spent a lot of it watching YouTube videos, especially educational ones. I began searching for topics that I was interested in from some of my favourite creators, but no luck finding any videos. So I thought I’d do some of my own research and then finally decided to make my own videos.

Do you think anyone can become a YouTuber?

Absolutely. But they should be aware of what they’re getting themselves in for. It required a lot of hard work, patience, and (very often) luck. 

Do you have any YouTubers you particularly like, who or inspired you?

My earliest inspirations were CGP Grey, MinutePhysics, ASAP Science, Vsauce, and Veritasium. 

Looking at your channel, a lot of your videos are based around the subject of geopolitics. When did you start becoming interested in geopolitics? Were you always interested in it, or was it more of a recent thing?

I really just became interested by watching YouTube videos. So it was a recent interest. 

What would most people be surprised to learn about what your job entails?

Being a YouTuber probably isn’t as glamorous as people might think. I’m fortunate to be in the position I’m in, but much of what I do is boring, tedious, and a real grind at times. Still wouldn’t trade it for anything else though.

How do you usually come up with video ideas?

Hard to say, really. I never actively search for new video ideas, most topics just come up in my daily life, something I’ve read online, or perhaps part of my research for another video that piqued my interest.

At this time, among your 10 most viewed videos, 2 of them are part of the “most complex international borders in the world” series and 2 are part of the “winners and losers” series. Do you ever feel pressured to make a certain type of video to make it more popular? If you do, do you find it frustrating, or does it more feel like “part of the job?”

No, I never feel under pressure. But of course, I always need to consider how popular I think a certain video topic will be vs others. I try not to make this my primary concern, but it’s impossible not to consider it.

When discussing highly complicated topics, such as the status of Northern Ireland or whether or not Taiwan is a country, it’s important to make sure you’re giving as clear and unbiased of an account of the situation as possible. Is there anything, in particular, you do to make sure of this?

Yes, this is something that is very important to me. I decided from day 1 that I wanted my videos to be as neutral and unbiased as possible. People may not always agree with my assessment of the situation, but any bias shown in my videos is completely unintentional, and I try to avoid as much as I can.

WonderWhy also has a second channel where some of his videos are translated into Spanish, Preguntarse Por Qué (a direct translation of Wonder Why). You can find him on Twitter, join his Discord server, or support him on Patreon.