I have to wonder if streaming is the modern outlet for desperate under educated people trying to earn a living doing mindless work. A couple decades ago this type might work a union job doing manual labor 8 hours a day and have plenty of money for stupid consumer shit, but no more.
Streamer has replaced “reality show star” as the great white hope for people who have no discernible talent but feel they’re special enough to be “famous” regardless. Unlike most creative fields there’s no talent measure so people can keep that dream going forever, whereas in other disciplines you need full obliviousness to keep trying.
I ran into one of these guys once. There's a gamestop in the mall near I live that's very close to their corporate offices; as such it's a really big store, full of all kinds of collectable stuff like life size Stormtroopers, that gun from Gears of war, etc etc.
Anyway, I'm in line to check out and this guy walks in wearing a backpack with several wires going to his phone and a clip on mic, basically a giant battery for him to steam his life with. He wanders around the store for a little bit making the biggest deal about everything he sees. "Woah guys! Check this out!!! Remember this?" he screams as loud as he can, putting on various hats with things like the PSX and N64 logo, before finally declaring everyone that donated that day would be entered in a contest to get the n64 hat.
It was seriously the most annoying thing I'd ever seen. I can't fathom why people actually sit down and choose to watch this shit, even with the hopes of catching moments like these.