I've been on YouTube for 20 YEARS!

Hey everyone. Hi, it's Justine. If you don't know, this is my channel and my YouTube channel recently turned 20 years old. I know what you're saying. Um, Justine, your channel's older than me. Some of you are saying that at least, which is kind of a crazy concept to think about that I've been making YouTube videos before some of you were even born. So to celebrate, I thought I would bring back an old fan favorite, Ask J, where you guys ask me questions and I answer them. I heard I just seen the spot a Henway 5. Ask J. Everybody's got a question on their mind. On their mind. Now it's time. Now it's time to ask anything. Hey, you can ask. Hey, you can ask. I mean, just hearing that song brings back so many memories, so many fun videos, so many questions, so many answers. And my friends, we only have so little time before your attention span is gone. So, let's start answering some of the questions. Starting with this first one, which is ironic because uh Red Parrot Potato is asking if I'll ever change up my hair. And I don't know what it was about today, but I had bought this triple barrel curling iron to do my hair like this for a '90s land party that I went to a few weeks ago. Never used it. And since I had bought it, I had seen a few videos of some girls doing their hair like this. I was like, "Oh my god, that's so cute." So, I thought, "Today's the day. I'm gonna do it." And here I am shooting a flashback video to the last 20 years. And this is the first time I've ever I don't know. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's I'm I'm a little unsettled. I also didn't know what I was doing. So, it wasn't the best day to experiment with hairstyles. So, we'll see what happens. Sam is asking if there was ever a point that I was close to giving up, and if so, what motivated you to continue? I don't think there was ever a point where I was like, um, I'm going to quit. I think the difficult part is trying to work through when you're going through it, things aren't well, like nothing is going your way and you know, you kind of have to continue to show up for your job when your job is to be on camera, to be happy, to be excited. It's like, how do you continue to do that when everything in your life is completely falling apart and you're unhappy and you're and you're the opposite of what you want to portray? That is the most difficult thing. And especially for content creators, if you do ever find yourself in that situation, take the time that you need for yourself, your family, your friends, do what you need to do. The internet will always be there. There's always going to be a new platform. There's always going to be new audiences. You may lose some people. And even so, if you want to still be active, just post some photos, post anything. Post something to make it feel like your channel's alive. And depending upon the type of content that you do, if you do want to share what you're going through with your audience, that's also an option as well. But I feel like for me, like I kind of took a step back over the last, I'd say maybe 10 years from sharing my personal life as much as I used to. I mean, you guys remember like I not only streamed my life 24/7, but I used to vlog every single day. Definitely drove me a little crazy. It made me kind of not enjoy making YouTube videos as much because it put such a pressure on you to create content to go find something fun every single day to do for said content that then in turn made the things that you were doing not really fun and then it just everything was just like why am I even doing this? This is a long-winded way of saying uh I've never quit because I truly do enjoy what I'm doing. But when I am going through some tough times, I mean maybe I don't post as much as I normally do. Sometimes I'll share what I'm going through, sometimes I won't. But yeah, I guess the the real reason that I'm still here is because I never quit. I don't have intentions of quitting. If I ever do quit, I probably won't say anything. I'll just disappear. Sex says that my Harris ter music video lives rentree in your head. I am so sorry. My favorite iPhone model, I would say the gold iPhone 10, which was the iPhone X, because that was I think my first time actually getting one of the iPhones to review and it was such a memorable moment and I loved loved loved that color of that phone. Oh gosh. Super also saying, "Remember when you used to make the music video parodies?" Yes, I remember. How could I forget? A lot of you are asking, "What happened to Libby the Lobster?" That's a really great question. I think she probably uh was donated. So, she's she probably ended up at a Goodwill somewhere in Los Angeles. But I did repurchase a Libby the Lobster costume a few years ago, and I just found it while I was cleaning out my storage unit. So, maybe she'll come back, maybe she won't. There you go. Thank you. You're welcome. Hi, Justine. Oh, no. I'm Libby. I'm Libby. I'd like to do my best impression of a boiling lobster because honestly, it's so hot right here being picked up and putting into the boiling water. Can you imagine me posting one of those videos right now on my channel and the confusion that some of these new people would be feeling when they watch that? I love it. I think we need to do it. Katie is saying that they found me when they were 11 or 12 and now going on 20. Y'all, it's wild how fast the time flies. Uh, found you on MySpace and been here ever since. No specific questions, but maybe just a life update. How are things? What's going on since the pivot away from YouTube? I hope things just get better and better for you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. There's a lot to go into right now. I'd say the past few years have been pretty good, but there have been some very difficult times like when I losing my mom and some other things that had gone on during that time that were pretty traumatic for the most part. You know, I think for me, when things when you do hit rock bottom, like there's literally only one way that you can go, like once you've hit it, you got to go back up. Having that motivation to kind of keep going, finding new hobbies, finding things that that make you excited and make you happy. And I'm just so excited over the last few years, like I found scuba diving, I found jiu-jitsu, which I've been doing since around 2018. But I think it's really important no matter what job you have to kind of have things that you do for yourself. feel like jiu-jitsu for me was one of the things that I found that really helped me through a really tough time. Most importantly, realizing that I didn't have to post everything on the internet. So, for the first several years, I never talked about jiu-jitsu, didn't post a single thing, how those times have changed because that's all I post about now. But it was so nice because I could go to the gym and no one knew who I was. I was just kind of like this other person on the mat learning and growing alongside of all of the other people that I was training with. And that was just such a great feeling. And still to this day, it's something that I absolutely love. And I've met so many incredible people through jiu-jitsu. And I've even heard that I've got some of you into it as well. I keep losing all of my questions on my phone because my phone keeps turning off. If I were the CEO of Apple, what would be the first thing you would add to the Apple ecos? It would be a pink iPhone Max. Absolutely. Like hot pink. Just not like this basic baby pale pink. Hot pink. What keeps me going after so many years? I mean, honestly, it's just the fact that I get to do what I love as a job. Travel, make videos, and do basically I would I don't want to say it's whatever. I guess it kind of is whatever I want, but like I'm the one telling myself what to do. So, like I'm my own boss, which sometimes is is not great because sometimes I choose to play Pokémon for 2 months and then not do any real work and then my life falls apart around me because I've just been playing video games. There's that. How did you make the move to California and when was your first I made it moment? It's a really great question. I do remember moving to Los Angeles uh you know against my parents will. They were not excited about it. I really didn't have any plans on what I was going to do when I got here. I did move to San Francisco first. I moved here with a like the most beat up pink suitcase, but it was beautiful and it was pink. Uh, I filled that with some some like a blanket, some clothing, a light that I had for making videos. And I moved to San Francisco. That's a whole another story. That's that's way too much. That's for another day. Would I ever consider writing another memoir? I would love to because I feel like so much has happened since that book, which was 2015. Like that was a lifetime ago at this point. So much has happened. Roberto Blake wants to know what the next 5 years looks like for you. Truthfully, I do not know. I'm the kind of person that doesn't really like to plan. Loosely plan, but I leave room for, oh, I don't feel like doing this anymore. I'm going to go do this thing instead. Even like this YouTube 20th, I had some really big plans of some things to do and then a lot of them kind of fell through because I I wanted to play Pokémon. Bopi, has anybody played this game? Because I'm obsessed. I freaking love it so much. So, sometimes I do feel like you need to leave room in your hopes and dreams and your goals because there may be a side quest or another trajectory that might take you on something that is way better than that initial path that you thought you were going to be going down. I mean, look at me now. I love Pokémon. Next question is from Dez. Whatever happened to Desi? That is the question. I feel like we need to get Dez out here. We need to do an updated video, do a little podcast, talk about the old school days. For those of you that don't remember, Desiree was one of my friends that we went to college together. We started making videos together. We had like a podcast. We were just like doing whatever we wanted. Like it was so fun. We were making videos. And yeah, I think that definitely needs to happen. So Dez, stay tuned. Um, in a world getting devoured by AI platforms and unregulating the bots, is 2026 still a good time to start creating content? I actually do think it's a good time. I mean, there's no better time than the present. If you do want to start creating content, I think AI is going to it's going to kind of level the playing field as far as being able to create things. I mean, what used to take me hours and hours in Photoshop now takes me the simple press of a button. So for creatives knowing how to use these tools and using them to our advantage to do things quicker, like it's pretty freaking exciting for people who are just making like this AI slop content. I do think that there is an audience for that. I mean, it's definitely not something that I like to watch, but I think there are people out there that do like it. But I do think because there's going to be so much AI content, valuing a human person with genuine feelings, their actual real thoughts, that might be even more sacred than just a bunch of talking heads reading AI scripts. So, if you want to create content, just start doing it. It's fun. It's a lot of work. You probably will cry, but that's okay. Just wipe your tears and hit upload. Sean wants to know the they love that I'm still using the Iene branding, but I have you ever seriously thought about changing it? I actually haven't until now. I don't know what I would change it to because that's basically my name. So, I've got nothing. January 2007, Mac World San Francisco 19 years ago. I was there and remember meeting you shortly after the iPhone announced. I was working the EyesStock photo booth. Oh my goodness. I still use EyesStock photo. How crazy is that? That's incredible. What are my top three memories from that event? I think it was just so cool because that was kind of my first time that I was ever in San Francisco. And the second that I got there, I just felt at home. I loved the city. I loved the food. I loved the vibe. And being there and getting to witness the release of this phone and then like seeing it behind like this glass case, you know, kind of looking back now, it's pretty wild because so many things came from that very moment. That was like my first time ever hosting something like a show. So, I'm super grateful for getting that opportunity. I learned a lot. Yeah, that was a really, really cool time. How is little Maddie doing? How old is he? He is a perfect little baby boy. He is turning 11. Can you guys believe that Maddie grew up here on YouTube with you? And the fact that that dog started out as a brand deal, quick story about that, there was a company that wanted to bring awareness to pet adoption. So, there was this website. I think it was like petfinder.com. And I told them, I was like, I would love to bring awareness to your cause, but there is no way that I can handle getting a dog. That's just out of the picture. So, I will not get a dog for this video. I've got a little announcement for you. I am now a puppy mommy. And then I started surfing the website. I had just moved to a new place that had a yard. And when I searched on this website, I saw this litter of puppies that I guess had been dumped in some back alley by a backyard breeder. And they were brought to this adoption agency. And once I saw them, I was like, "That's my dog right there. That is my dog." And went down to this place with my sister and uh our friend Matt. That's the story of Maddie and would not have it any other way. So, someone is saying, "Would you ever collab with smaller content creators and bridge the gap in the community?" So, here's the thing with doing collabs. I do love to do them. I love collabing with people, but I get a little bit nervous because I've been doing this for so long. You never know who you're going to collab with that might turn out to be a a I don't want to say like a serial killer, but also truly they they probably could be. I mean, that's just the reality of it. Or somebody that ends up with like a crazy scandal, which has happened so many times. I think I have a photo with like four people in the photo have been involved in scandals and then here I am just like why you got to ruin a perfectly great photo opportunity with a bunch of scandals. Yeah, it's like bro, how many times have you been cancelled already? Does unboxing new tech still feel as exciting as the first time or does it fade after unboxing so many devices like new phones only have minor upgrades? Does it ever feel like me just another unboxing? Uh yes and no. I will say it is getting harder and harder for I think tech creators to get excited about new tech because a lot of it is very very similar. There's only incremental upgrades where it's exciting because the product is new but also like these products are already so good. So how much more in a year can you make it better than the previous version? Where the real upgrades happen is someone who hasn't bought a new phone in 5 years. That's where you're really going to see the difference. So I think for us it's having to kind of take a step back and review it kind of objectively like okay here's everything that's new with this device sometimes it is fun comparing it to the older ones but it still is exciting opening up a new box of tech especially that new tech smell got to love it. My most pinch me moment over the last 20 years still when I think about it there's like there's two things that come to mind when I was in the Call of Duty Black Ops I commercial. Absolutely epic. A commercial for my freaking favorite video game. Absolutely. And being on the prices right twice. once as a contestant and two as a model. Like who? Pinch. Pinch. No pinch. Somebody's asking what was in that phone bill for it to be 300 pages. And I've answered this before, but in case you don't know, those were basically all tweets because back in the day, Twitter used to be a textbased platform. It did have a web interface, but most of the tweets would come to your phone, and you could tweet from the phone. You could reply to tweets. A lot of those were tweets. In 2007, your channel was one of the first that I subscribed to. Was it frustrating back in those days for the 10-minute limit? No, I was posting like a minute videos or like a minute 30. Some of them are like 30 seconds. It's wild that, you know, now we're like, "Oh my goodness, like I can post videos that are up to like an hour." You know, short form content are now 3 minutes plus. That was like a full YouTube video back in the day. So, I love this tweet so much. So, Mike can't remember how they found my videos, but he recently visited the Apple Museum in the Netherlands. And he's wearing one of my old shirts that I made that was merch. And I'm on the wall at the Apple Museum in the Netherlands with a bunch of these other incredible people like I mean on the wall like next to Dead Mouse and Trent Resner and Ed Sheeran. Like what? I'm sorry. Okay. Anyway, I am planning to go visit that Apple Museum. So, I'm very excited. And Mike's also asking, "What is my favorite thing that I've had the opportunity to do through your career?" I've already named a few things that I was hyped about, but I think what I'm most excited about is being able to help and provide for my family if they ever need anything. I'm able to give them new tech, help them out monetarily. Like, it's just so rewarding to be able to do what I love and be able to give back in any way possible because I think a lot of creators do take for granted that what we're doing is very special. There are a lot of people creating content, but to be able to create for so long without getting cancelled. And I just cannot say thank you enough to all of you for being here for so long. And I really hope one day soon I can do a fun fan event, have a meetup, meet you guys again, because that was one of the best things about doing this is, you know, going to events, getting to meet you guys. But it's scary now. Like it's it's hard to do things in public without the fear of the unknown. And I think trying to be safe, making sure you guys are safe, that's the hard part. So hopefully sometime soon I can do something fun because I really would like to to meet you guys, give you an actual real hug. And yeah, so we'll see. Stay tuned. Okay, let's see. Do I have any more? Oh. Oh, here's one. Okay, this is from Emily. She found me in 2017. I love you, Emily. Um, happy birthday, too. You recently just turned 21 and you've been watching my videos for so long. I actually got to meet her at Vlog University back in the day. This is what's so cool is getting to find people like Emily that have been there for so long and like it's so cute. She's got like one of my old school so so happy hoodies on and it's just it's so fun. Like again that's why I love doing what I do and getting to do those fun events and get you to meet you guys in person is so awesome. This is like this is the kind of content that I used to post. Like this is my iPhone channel. Like we would just post whatever and it didn't even matter. Brit need them look good. That's a full YouTube video. If I could tell myself one thing before making that fateful first YouTube video, what would it be? Well, it probably would be um this video is going to be here forever. So, uh yeah, just be prepared. So, when anyone goes to your channel, that's it. Do I still have the Mac that I won from the prices, right? I absolutely do still have it. That was like the computer that I used for years and years. I did upgrades. It's uh it's in my closet right now, but yes, I still have it. And what did I do with the flooring that I won? at the time you were able to get cash instead of like accepting the prize. I don't think you could do that anymore. So yeah, I I did not accept the the flooring. What would I tell my younger self if I had a chance to tell my younger self? I would probably say it's not that serious. Like the things that I was concerned about 20 years ago, it's not that serious. That dude, he's not worth it. That project that you ended up not doing, it's fine. It's not the end of the world. There's other things. I feel like when you're younger, everything seems it's the end of the world when something bad happens. But as you get older and more terrible things happen to you, it's it's not fun. But you actually kind of look back and you realize like, wow, yeah, that wasn't so bad back then. I laugh or I cry. My I think that was actually the finally the last one. I'm starting to lose my voice now. I've been shooting videos all day. But that was it. Thank you guys so much for asking me some questions. There's there were so many. It was kind of overwhelming trying to pick. The good thing is there were a lot of questions that kind of over overlapped and a lot of you were asking the same things. Most of them were where's E Justine, where's Libby the Lobster, and when am I going to make another parody music video? It's really hard to say. Thank you again for watching. Um, if you haven't already, make sure you like, comment, subscribe. Be sure to hit the bell to be notified when I post new videos. Does that even work anymore? I'm not even sure. But I would love to hear from you in the comments below. When did you start watching my videos? And again, thank you so much for watching for so long. Even if you're new, if you've been here since the beginning, thank you. Welcome. And that's it. I'll see you guys in the next one. Bye.