- So
question,
who's ready for a flashback to
12 years ago?
♪ Everybody's got a question on their mind on their minds ♪
♪ On their mind ♪
♪ So now it's time, so now it's time ♪
♪ To ask Justine anything ♪
♪ Hey, hey, you can ask IJ ♪
So I recently have been kind of reflecting
on my YouTube career, and it's safe to say
that I think that I'm officially old.
Like I cannot even believe the fact that my YouTube channel
that I started in 2006,
there are people watching my channel right now
that were not even born when I started my channel,
like that to me is absolutely mind blowing.
And why it's so shocking to me
is because my attention span is pretty much nonexistent.
So the fact that something can hold my attention
for that long, still to this day I absolutely love it
and have been really enjoying seeing
this entire space just evolve like right before my eyes.
And it it's evolved over the past, oh my goodness,
what is that?
What is the math on that like, 16 years?
How many years has it been since May of 2006?
Oh yes, 16.
Like some of you who are starting to drive right now,
like I was starting a YouTube channel.
And about 12, 13 years ago, I started this show
called Ask IJ, and it was kind of like
the beginning of ask me question videos.
So I thought today in honor of that
I would answer some of your questions.
I've already screenshotted some
that I asked you guys on Twitter.
If you wanna follow me on Twitter, @IJustine.
Oh my God. This is so weird.
I feel like I'm just kind of time traveling back
to the first episode of Ask IJ.
Watching this old video of the first episode of ask IJ
is honestly kind of shocking,
because I'm just picturing the studio apartment that I had.
My studio that I'm shooting this video in right now
is larger than that entire apartment combined,
my bedroom, my kitchen my bathroom,
like it was a very, very small apartment.
So it's so strange kind of sitting here many years later
to really kind of reflect on how grateful I am
to really be able to be doing this for so long.
And I don't really think about it that often,
to kind of think of like where I started and where I am now.
And that's a very long time to be doing something.
So if any of you are currently working on a project
or you wanna do something in the future,
like sometimes things take a very long time.
There's ups, there's downs.
And my journey to here,
there has been so many ups and downs,
things that I've never shared publicly on the internet.
And it's just kind of interesting,
because I've sort of crafted this entire strange career
from the very beginning,
and who knows where I'll be in 10 years,
which somebody actually asked me one of those questions.
But without further ado
I wanna hop into some of these questions.
Okay, Zach wants to know,
will you include the original theme song?
Of course, didn't you just hear it?
Geoff Smith, thank you so much
for that original piece of art.
It is such an iconic song.
Emily is asking what the favorite thing is about my job.
And actually it's ironic that she would ask this
because I got a chance to meet Emily back
at vlog university.
She has been following my channel
for the past couple of years.
It is so awesome to really get a chance to meet you guys.
Like the people that see my content, you watch my videos,
you watch whatever it is that you're watching of mine,
following me on Instagram, following me on Twitter,
whatever it is.
And then I actually get to meet you guys in person.
And that was honestly like the coolest part about my job,
is seeing you guys in person,
seeing the impact that I've had on some of your lives.
And like that is so incredibly meaningful,
because I never really had I guess a role model
when I was growing up
of someone who was doing something that I wanted to do.
There weren't many women in tech.
There really wasn't many women at all that I knew
doing the types of things that I liked,
like playing video games, editing, coding,
and now with the internet,
like you can find people who are doing things that you like
and you can follow them
and you can talk to them and you can reach out.
So the fact that like I can be that
for some of you out there is so freaking awesome,
and it honestly means the world to me.
So thank you again for watching,
and however you guys found my channel or found me,
I appreciate you and you are all so awesome.
And I'm so excited that I get to do this for a job.
It is a very, very difficult job.
I don't think a lot of people understand
how difficult it is,
but it is something that I genuinely really do enjoy.
And I am so excited for the next question,
which is from Mike Krisza!
Hello, Mike. Oh my God.
It's so good to hear from you as well.
How many external hard drives did you have to go through
to find that original theme song?
Thankfully, Gmail, I had it in my email.
I just did a quick little, and there it was.
This is so awesome seeing so many of you guys
from back in the day, Greg
who said, well, I think I was a part of that first ask IJ.
So I gotta keep it going.
What are some of the similarities that you're
seeing between the rise of social media boom in
2006 and the rise of NFT market now?
I would say the NFT market is so much more volatile
than social media back then, just
because there is money at stake, there are so
many more scammers and there's so many more people
on the internet that have access to these types
of things that you have to be super, super careful.
But the thing that I am excited about in the NFT,
in the crypto, in the blockchain in the web3 space
is what the future of that is going to look like.
Like right now there are environmental impacts
but what I am most excited about is the future
of what this space looks like with web3
with the blockchain tech, with NFT technology.
Now I know it's such a huge controversy
but I promise you, as someone who has been criticized
in the past for being made fun of, for playing video games
I used to go to land parties.
Some of my friends in high school back
in the nineties were competing in gaming tournaments
and we were getting made fun of they're like video games.
You're never gonna actually be able to professionally
play that and make it a career.
Hmm, that's weird.
Because then I was hosting Call of Duty tournaments
where the prize pool was a million dollars.
So went from getting made fun of for playing video games
to hosting million dollar tournaments.
Oh, let me remember.
The times that I had people tell me
that their friends were making fun
of me for making YouTube videos back in 2006.
And it's very interesting because some
of those people who I remember were making fun
of me were asking for collabs many years later.
Interesting. So with people making fun of me for my interest
in web3, NFT, blockchain tech, I get it.
I understand where you're coming from
because it is something that is completely new.
There are a ton of things that are wrong with it
but that is how things start.
There are environmental impacts, especially with Ethereum
and how much processing power it takes to actually mine
Ethereum, a lot of this tech that is so early right now
it will be used in future iterations
of what web3 will become and what you currently see it.
Now, I know
I know the click save JPEGs, the screenshot, whatever
with a lot of these future iterations
of Ethereum, like Ethereum 2.0 and even Solana
these will all be consuming way less energy.
So a lot of those environmental impacts
of things that we have currently
those will hopefully all be taken care of.
I know a lot
of people have a lot of strong opinions about it.
They either love it or they hate it.
I feel like there's no, no kind of middle ground.
And the interesting thing is a lot
of the information that people are saying is
it's a lot of not true things.
Would you guys like to see me kind of
explain my thought process in sort
of this web3 space in the crypto, in the NFT world
and I'm not going to be giving you any financial advice
like I'm not and go out and buy these.
I'm not telling you to start investing in crypto.
I just want to kind of dispel, I think some of the myths
and some of the misconceptions, because I think that's one
of the things that's kind of upsetting is a lot
of people don't have all of the information.
And when you go to sort of look up this information
it's really hard to find
because everything is so polarizing.
And I would say that
if this is something that you are interested in
you have to do your research.
You need to find trusted people
because there are a lot of scams.
There are scams everywhere.
I mean, if you look in my YouTube comments
it's basically a ton of bots, just spamming and scamming
and that is nothing new, but it is very, very prevalent
in the NFT space and is very easy to get scammed.
I unfortunately was scammed and I'm actually glad
that I was because I learned from that experience
but I am super excited about some of these new platforms
and some of the blockchain tech that is coming
out that is environmentally friendly.
There are so many ways that this could actually be achieved.
I am just very excited to kind of see where it all goes.
So I know that was kind of like a long-winded answer
but I honestly do truly believe that there is
something here is the current form that it's in.
Now It? no, is it flawed?
Yes. That goes
with basically the entire beginning of social media.
That's the fun part.
And what I think is so cool
about web3 is the community aspect of like
we all kind of have the ability to help make these changes.
And I'm just really excited to kind of see the
next generation kind of take this to a whole nother level.
It's like, you guys are the next generation.
So it's like
what are you guys going to create that isn't created now?
Like when people say, Hey, I wanna be a YouTuber.
Yeah. Cool, great.
Why don't you strive to do something that is not
even here yet?
And I feel
like that has been something that I've done pretty
much my entire life I've found really cool small platforms
like Twitter, like Instagram and all
of these things before there were tons of people on it.
And that's why it's so excited to see people kind
of creating new platforms every single day.
That could potentially be the future.
Anyway, that was, I don't even know.
Did I answer your question?
It's hard to say
Nico is saying you made this intro 13 years ago.
Oh my God.
Look at that.
Oh, wow.
Oh my gosh.
Rob is showing his
you can ask IJ t-shirt can you even believe this?
Wow. Also wanna know
if this was gonna include the original theme song?
Yep. You better believe it.
I don't think ask IJ shirts are still available, but I mean
if you guys really want me to revamp that incredible design
I can do that.
Connor's asking if I will ever, no
That's not what he's asking at all, actually.
Do you think we'll see apple launch their multi
reality headset this year?
And if so, what would you like to see it do?
Wow. I guess I would like it just to be comfortable.
I mean, I think that's one
of the things that's really difficult
for a lot of these headsets is they are heavy.
They're kind of bulky
and I get motion sickness very, very easily.
So if there's some way to kind of limit the motion
sickness aspect, like I'm all for it.
I think obviously having it be cordless is a huge plus
long battery life and comfort.
We need to have it be comfortable.
And I feel like once apple does this, they're gonna do it.
Right. My dream podcast guest for same brain.
I mean, I guess it would be Tim cook
but like I already talked to him, but if he, like
if he wants to come back on and chat, like anytime
like for an extended period of time, Tim
you know where to find us, how's my Tesla model S plaid
is it better than the Mercedes that I had?
So they're like very two very separate cars.
I absolutely love the model S plaid.
I actually was thinking of selling my Mercedes
but it is completely paid off.
And I love that car so much.
And I feel like the only way that I will get rid
of that is if I am upgrading to, I don't know
like a truck or something like that, because I feel
like I do a lot of lugging of gear, a lot of stuff.
And so having that larger vehicle, especially
one that is paid off, I'm not worried about that car
for me has already kind of had its little dents and niks.
So like, I don't mind taking that off roading
and going places and not worrying about like, oh my God
my Tesla model S plaid.
Like I can't take that off road, but Mercedes SUV.
Yep. I can take that anywhere.
Fastest Rubik's cube solving time, Dennis
you're asking a lot of hit questions.
It's under three minutes, maybe like two 40 something.
Do I still play animal crossing?
Yes I do.
I haven't been playing as much
but I still play like a couple of times a week for sure.
Krishna is talking about a Q and A that I did from LAx.
If you remember some 12
or 13 years ago, my flight was delayed.
I actually do remember
that we were discussing food choices in various terminals.
That sounds about accurate Ravi.
What was your vision
for the channel at this particular point?
And that is a picture of me
and my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles costume running
around my yard 15 years ago.
That's cool.
Love that.
You love to see that you love to see it.
Nicholas says you've accomplished so much
since the start of your YouTube channel.
Where do you see yourself?
12 years from now?
Oh my God. I don't know.
My God. I don't know.
That's such a long time.
Favorite Apple product.
I mean, it's gotta be my phone, like my iPhone.
Like I can literally do everything from this, everything.
Favorite games to play for the past year.
Oh man.
I haven't like really done any crazy play throughs
except for halo.
I played that so much over the Christmas break
and basically me and my sister were in opposite
rooms across from each other in the hall at our
childhood home playing Halo.
And it felt just like the good old days.
Oh, so great.
Yamialex224
says I'm 30.
And I've been watching you since the peanut
butter and jelly in the Blender and apple.
Why you no, send me phone.
That's a long, I remember ordering.
They were like the iPhone 4 maybe
and ups sent it in an empty box.
There was no phone in said box.
Do I think I'll write another book in the future?
I think I will maybe a children's book.
Will I ever go to another concert again?
I would like to there's actually a Justin Bieber
concert coming up at the end
of the month that I was thinking
that maybe that might be something that I would be into
my favorite dog breed is it's my dog, whatever
whatever he is.
DJ mini, Matt, Matt, my baby boy.
He's a Bichon, Poodle, Lhasa, Apso, Chihuahua
little mixed mut and he is freaking perfect.
And I think that was actually the last question that I have.
Oh, it is.
Wow. Well, thank you guys
for watching this little ask IJ episode.
I can't believe I've been doing this
for probably half of some of your lives.
It's kind of shocking.
Let me know when the comments below
if you have any other questions
I would love to chat with you guys here.
After this video is even posted, you know
like in the comment section, just like the good old days.
If you guys haven't subscribed, please hit subscribe.
Be sure to hit the bell.
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If you guys are into that sort of thing
I'll see you guys later.
Bye.
(upbeat music)