Skip to main content

One of YouTube’s biggest creators is taking a burnout break

One of YouTube’s biggest creators is taking a burnout break

/

‘[YouTube] makes creators believe that we have to pump out content’

Share this story

Lilly Singh, one of YouTube’s most successful creators, is taking a break from the platform. In a recent video, Singh — also known as IISuperwomanII — explains that she is “mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted,” and she plans to take time away in order to recoup her creative energy.

For eight years, Singh has consistently released videos and daily vlogs on YouTube. She currently has more than 16 million subscribers between her channels, and she is considered one of the highest-earning YouTubers. But success does not equal well-being, and Singh says she could be mentally healthier. “I’ve enjoyed it,” she says of YouTube. “I love it. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that it has been a lot.”

“[YouTube] kind of is a machine.”

Singh isn’t the first YouTuber to step away due to mental health. As creators struggle to stay on top of an ever-changing platform, many struggle with burnout. For some, making content for YouTube means a constant grind; breaks mean losing subscribers and the prominent status in YouTube’s popularity algorithms that’s key for most YouTube successes.

In her video, Singh admits that she doesn’t fully understand YouTube’s current culture, which has drastically changed over the years. “I haven’t been super happy with a lot of the content I’ve created,” she says. “You know, the thing about YouTube is that, in all of its glory, it kind of is a machine. And it makes creators believe that we have to pump out content consistently, even at the cost of our life and our mental health and our happiness because if you don’t, then you’ll become irrelevant.” Some of the content she makes, she adds, is “because I think I have to on this platform that demands constant content, but it’s not really a reflection of me.”

Singh says she’s unsure how long she’ll be away. “I hope you know that I really need this for my sanity, for my happiness, and to just be better,” she says.