Ali Abdaal

[sergeantsantiago]

Could someone start a thread on Ali Abdaal in Influencers?

I can't make one and I'd be interested in seeing what others make of him.

His channel:

Ali Abdaal

I'm a Cambridge University medicine graduate, now working as a junior doctor in the UK's National Health Service (NHS). I used to make videos about life as a...

www.youtube.com

Thanks!

 

[sergeantsantiago]

Following on from the above...

I've subscribed to Ali and enjoyed his content for a while. He seemed down to earth, pretty chill, and while I think sometimes his self-deprecating British humour doesn't always translate well (some people find him arrogant), he's a smart dude who's built up his channel.

I have noticed, though, that his content recently has become extremely slick and polished to the point that his channel seems more obviously a money making machine. YouTubers should earn money for their content, that's not my problem - it's the shift that has followed. It feels a little impersonal now.

I've also always wondered how I would feel if my doctor was an influencer or on YouTube. On the one hand, it's been fascinating to get insight into his work through Days in the Life and I don't doubt his integrity in anyway. But alongside get ready with mes or vlogs where he talks about bowel movements or walks around in a towel - if he were my doctor, that's too much of a glimpse into his personal life for me.

Then there was his crazy video about The One Tip That Will Change Your Life or whatever it was called How To Watch TV Productively about watching TV and films at 2.5x speed for pRoDuCtIvItY. Ali honey, no. Noooooooooo.

And now this Tesla stuff keeps coming up in my recommended which honestly just makes me scratch my head...

To be clear I don't dislike Ali in anyway, but lately it feels like he's overly pushing his brand and I wonder if it's because he's taking a break from medicine. He has said he's looking to work on his channel but I guess for me it feels a bit soulless now he's got all these sponsorships.

I don't know if I'm making any sense lol - what do others make of him?

 

[3calico3]

I've only briefly seen Ali in Ed Hope's videos, but even then I didn't really warm to him. I kind of felt like he was playing up the stereotype of 'bumbling British medic', which just doesn't feel legit to me - he may have changed by now though.

 

[sergeantsantiago]

I've only briefly seen Ali in Ed Hope's videos, but even then I didn't really warm to him. I kind of felt like he was playing up the stereotype of 'bumbling British medic', which just doesn't feel legit to me - he may have changed by now though.

I know what you mean. At first I thought it was because he was trying to be modest, but then at other times he comes across as quite arrogant. I mean he went to Cambridge and did Medicine so he definitely has bragging rights but sometimes he comes across as a bit try hard.

 

[Sukia]

I guess it is tempting to double down on youtube when it brings significantly higher revenue than a thankless job in medicine, but it is kinda dissapointing that he chose to go the self help/finance/productivity guru route and do a bit sleazy job at it tbh. A hack on how to short term save money by buying a tesla for your company is not that practical of a advice for his target audience of younger people and students i don't think. I doubt many successful busy business owners have the time to watch Ali Abdaal give them financial advice. It's kinda this spiral of snake oil sales and flashing the success in snake oil sales for more snake oil sales lol

 

[3calico3]

I don't know the situation: is he not working as a doctor anymore?

 

[sergeantsantiago]

I don't know the situation: is he not working as a doctor anymore?

In a video he mentioned he's finished his most recent placement (in August) and didn't apply for ones for the following year. Apparently he's at a common point where medics choose to take a year out as until that point they've been studying and doing placements non-stop which makes sense. He's chosen to use this year before he reapplies for further placements (if he continues with medicine mind) to work on his YouTube channel and he was also planning to travel and talked maybe about moving to the US.

I guess it is tempting to double down on youtube when it brings significantly higher revenue than a thankless job in medicine, but it is kinda dissapointing that he chose to go the self help/finance/productivity guru route and do a bit sleazy job at it tbh. A hack on how to short term save money by buying a tesla for your company is not that practical of a advice for his target audience of younger people and students i don't think. I doubt many successful busy business owners have the time to watch Ali Abdaal give them financial advice. It's kinda this spiral of snake oil sales and flashing the success in snake oil sales for more snake oil sales lol

Agree - I didn't watch the Tesla videos because I dunno if I can bear it lmao but I wondered how this met his audience. It's pretty bizarre and I find it kind of gimmicky.

 

[mindlessness]

I think a lot of the self-help books he reads and listens to (on fast forward!) have repetitive information too. I feel like I've seen multiple videos on the same apps, and definitely one too many videos on Notion #sponsored.
I like the production quality of his videos, and do enjoy productivity content, but his feels quite repetitive. There's a lot of busy work involved too. Lots of wasted time setting up systems, rather than just doing stuff (if that makes sense?)

Not to mention a lot of the YouTube productivity content buys into the idea we must always be busy and productive etc etc. Which I don't love.

 

[sergeantsantiago]

Not to mention a lot of the YouTube productivity content buys into the idea we must always be busy and productive etc etc. Which I don't love.

Agree with this and this came as a bit of surprise for me with his 2.5x speed audiobooks because in study with mes he often showed him taking breaks or not starting work right away, or finishing up work and watching Netflix until 4am. I thought his idea of 'work smart, not harder' was more balanced than his recent videos suggest.

 

[Magallanes]

hi all! i've been AGES waiting for a thread on ali! i know i should have just started one myself but then i'd ask myself who would participate and the idea of making a thread vanished off hahah
anyways, let's get into business:

i like his videos, he seems a nice guy, and i like his humour. HOWEVER (here comes the rant), however, i noticed that in his interview with unjaded jade (a pretty popular studytuber in the UK) he said that he doesn't recycle as he thinks that his actions do not have a huge impact on the environment. that's when his mask fell off for me. i don't know if those live interviews are saved into his channel or if the comments are still available but i recall that people were a bit upset about this. also, why unjaded jade? what does she know about productivity? she has shown cero organisation skills whatsoever during her first two years at Minerva! besides of being a bit problematic youtuber... what do you think?

 

[sergeantsantiago]

hi all! i've been AGES waiting for a thread on ali! i know i should have just started one myself but then i'd ask myself who would participate and the idea of making a thread vanished off hahah
anyways, let's get into business:

i like his videos, he seems a nice guy, and i like his humour. HOWEVER (here comes the rant), however, i noticed that in his interview with unjaded jade (a pretty popular studytuber in the UK) he said that he doesn't recycle as he thinks that his actions do not have a huge impact on the environment. that's when his mask fell off for me. i don't know if those live interviews are saved into his channel or if the comments are still available but i recall that people were a bit upset about this. also, why unjaded jade? what does she know about productivity? she has shown cero organisation skills whatsoever during her first two years at Minerva! besides of being a bit problematic youtuber... what do you think?

I can't stand Jade so I didn't watch that video, but I heard similar things - I think someone linked it on her thread.

I guess with that and the Tesla stuff (for me anyway) it feels more obvious that his YouTube personality is perhaps further removed from the real Ali than I'd realised. Obviously everyone has some kind of online persona but it's still weird to see how that slips. I haven't seen the video like I said so I just assume he expressed it in a kind of blunt way. Like I think on a podcast somewhere (can't remember where, sorry!) he said he didn't really watch documentaries but then he did a video on his channel where he had a sponsored thing so he could watch documentaries (sorry I'm a bit vague on the details). Things like that are frustrating, especially when he seemed very genuine at first. Lately I wonder if his break from medicine and life uncertainties that he talked about in his Moving to America video are weighing on him a lot and he feels the pressure to just churn out content now for his metrics and not necessarily his audience.

 

[2020two]

I guess it is tempting to double down on youtube when it brings significantly higher revenue than a thankless job in medicine, but it is kinda dissapointing that he chose to go the self help/finance/productivity guru route and do a bit sleazy job at it tbh. A hack on how to short term save money by buying a tesla for your company is not that practical of a advice for his target audience of younger people and students i don't think. I doubt many successful busy business owners have the time to watch Ali Abdaal give them financial advice. It's kinda this spiral of snake oil sales and flashing the success in snake oil sales for more snake oil sales lol

He must be earning a heck of a lot through YouTube etc as he pays his assistant £35,000

I have had him as a Dr he walked in my room when I was poorly in hospital and I thought oh no it's the bloody bellend from Instagram. He's very awkward and quiet in real life.

 

[sergeantsantiago]

He must be earning a heck of a lot through YouTube etc as he pays his assistant £35,000

I have had him as a Dr he walked in my room when I was poorly in hospital and I thought oh no it's the bloody bellend from Instagram. He's very awkward and quiet in real life.

That’s really interesting and exactly what I mean - I don’t want to be poorly and thinking that about my doctor I don’t doubt Ali is professional at work but if people have preconceptions about you based on YT content or Instagram I think that’s a disadvantage. If they’re positive preconceptions maybe people would want to chat to him as more of a friend or something. Wonder if he’s encountered something like that before... I’d die of embarrassment if that were me at work.

I can see Ali being a bit awkward tbh. Did you two talk or did he just come in and do doctor-y things?

 

[sergeantsantiago]

I've no interest at all in his recent video offerings... time to unsubscribe

 

[Magallanes]

He must be earning a heck of a lot through YouTube etc as he pays his assistant £35,000

I have had him as a Dr he walked in my room when I was poorly in hospital and I thought oh no it's the bloody bellend from Instagram. He's very awkward and quiet in real life.

wow i was expecting some sort of joke to break the ice
i remember that in a live video he shot with his flatmate, he said that he (as a gynecologist) asked a patient: 'how long have you been with your partner?' and she replied that many years (like 25 or 30 or something like that, she was an old lady) and he said something like: 'sorry to hear that'

 

[nvngwork]

I stopped following when he made a point to say he reads flashcards in the toilet because its a wast of time ( not those words and i don't remember the video). This is so unhealthy i can't even begin to comprehend why people would take his advice because he is clearly not living a balanced life.

 

[Hasanah123]

How is a medic giving financial advice? Arent there regulations on this sort of thing?

All of a sudden he is THE youtuber everyone is saying OMG he mentioned me, he also has courses on skillshare so thats another way to make.money and his latest youtube academy is with skillshare

 

[elttat]

I saw a social media job advertised with him for 50k a while back - I was tempted

 

[Hasanah123]

Is he already from a wealthy background? His brother also attended Cambridge or was it Oxford

Feel like Amina Yonis on insta is trying to be the guy version of him now with her podcast, shes always got with skillshare and will be releasing a course, and shes also doing that self help stuff videos already

 

[sergeantsantiago]

Not sure how I feel about the beard...