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lemonlime
VIP Member
I like Astrid as well but sometimes she tries so hard to be Cool™ and it's unnecessary. Paige was my favourite but I admit I've lost interest a little since she's graduated from Cambridge. I enjoyed living vicariously through her and actuarial science doesn't spark my interest one bit 
I like Elena, I enjoyed her room tours and routines etc before and she seems to have a good head over her shoulders. She can come off patronising sometimes (the gifted child video comes to mind) but overall I like that she doesn't exist for the camera or hasn't sold her soul to the influencer label like Jade unfortunately has.
I also really envy her hair!
I like Elena, I enjoyed her room tours and routines etc before and she seems to have a good head over her shoulders. She can come off patronising sometimes (the gifted child video comes to mind) but overall I like that she doesn't exist for the camera or hasn't sold her soul to the influencer label like Jade unfortunately has.
I also really envy her hair!
I feel like sometimes she comes across as arrogant, especially in the gifted video.
Also, she said her parents are not rich, but she made them pay for her private education anyway, when Germany already has great public schools. Same thing with Cambridge, she's doing a year abroad in Germany, where she could be studying for free, but instead, she's paying Cambridge.
And all her expensive clothes... Idk, she seems like a great person and a hardworker, but she's not my cup of tea. My favorite is definitely Paige.
Also, she said her parents are not rich, but she made them pay for her private education anyway, when Germany already has great public schools. Same thing with Cambridge, she's doing a year abroad in Germany, where she could be studying for free, but instead, she's paying Cambridge.
And all her expensive clothes... Idk, she seems like a great person and a hardworker, but she's not my cup of tea. My favorite is definitely Paige.
swishswishbish1
Well-known member
To be honest, while I can imagine how this may seem arrogant, I personally understand where she’s coming from. If she is brighter and more ambitious than average then all the power to her and I think she should indeed receive an education according to her ambitions. I can see how the title of the video etc may make her seem arrogant or narcissistic but at the same time I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being aware of your strengths and getting the opportunities that you worked for (and making a video about the costs).
I love Elena, she’s one of my favorite people on YouTube and I also feel very sorry for her when she gets hate about her appearance cause girl
youaregorgeous!
emmer_moans
VIP Member
I would assume most of her viewers are English speaking due to the comments I used to see on her videos etc. Lots of international students watch studytubers and English is one of the more common languages at universities so it does seem like she's alienating a lot of her established followers from many countries who are interested in Cambridge. Seems to be an odd choice. Translating apps exist, or at least she could mix it up. I see her stories and have no idea what she is saying now. It's not like I am following some one randomly in German, I've been following her for years.
Welshgal
VIP Member
It’s really quite something to bitch about others being new on here when you’re literally only a member yourself 
I also don’t see her fashion videos being stupid or embarrassing or pointless? It’s her online presence so she can do what she wants? If she only showed herself studying that would be much more problematic…
I also don’t see her fashion videos being stupid or embarrassing or pointless? It’s her online presence so she can do what she wants? If she only showed herself studying that would be much more problematic…
swishswishbish1
Well-known member
I agree, props to Elena for the self-awareness. I would like to add that I believe this also somewhat depends on your audience – after all, most YouTubers are aware of their age demographic and I think studytubers whose audience is mainly minors should indeed make sure their audience realizes this may not be how they live every day, they also rest etc. While Elena's audience is a little older, and most adults usually don't need the clarification that someone's life doesn't have to be like theirs or that people showing their studying process don't study all day every day, children are generally more impressionable – and it seems to me that some studytubers have a really young audience in comparison to themselves (or at least it seems so from their comment section).And the award to the most self-aware and responsible your uber goes to Elena Handtrack!
My one rebuttal to her piece is that she says Ruby Granger and (the old) UnJadeded probably don't spend everyday studying for 15 hours and it's only the snippets of their lives that we see that we build our assumptions around. However, I argue that it's the responsibility of studytubers such as these to actively dispel these assumptions by showing more variety in their channels or at less tin the description of their video that it is not representative of a typical day/ life.
A StudyTuber Examines Her Responsibility
Hey loves! I had the grand idea to google myself a few nights ago (honestly, I have no good reason for that one) and I honestly did not expect to find anything aside from links to my socials and websites, but I actually found posts written about me on websites and in online forums. Some of the...www.elenahandtrack.com
Karolina1985
Active member
She never said if her bf is German, not in English anyway. I'm just finding it's strange that suddenly she has a bf and at the same time she's switching to German only, maybe he sealed the deal for her that she wants to come back to Germany, who knows. I understand that she wants to make a name for herself in Germany, but I also think that English speaking viewers deserve some post saying that this channel will sadly no longer be in English and while I understand switching to German I don't understand why she can't make a smaller translation in English, I follow some French instagramers who have much smaller audience and are doing this out of respect to English speaking viewers. Elena said in some comment that most of her viewers are German speaking, so maybe she doesn't care about English speaking viewers because they don't come in a large number, who knows. I will miss her, she is the only studytuber that I follow, she is normal, down to earth and I loved her sense of humor and irony.
The reality is that she probably felt bad because while she was a big fish in her small school, she is nothing at Cambridge. At Cambridge, these kids are privileged, come from wealthy and high profile families, have all the resources available to them, and/or made top notch grades. About half of them are probably the privileged kind. It strikes me as strange that Elena got depressed in her very first year (probably missed home and couldnt hack the competition), took a semester off, and then resumed studies but at a lesser known school in Germany and in her native German language. Come on. Girl couldnt hack it. It is a lot easier to get good grades at an average school than it is to get grades at a more presitigious school. If she wanted to study abroad, she could have gone to China or one of the other interesting places in the world to expand her horizons, but no she went back to her home town to live with mommy and daddy as a college student. Meh.
And sorry but she reads YA fiction. You would think that a Cambridge student in law who was "gifted" would have moved on to other books besides Harry Potter and Sarah Maas. Her "elena tries to figure out law" channel videos are also very telling. Sometimes people reveal who they are without realizing it... if you watch the video she made on the #metoo movement and how it "hurts men" you can tell that she has no practical experience of the real world and has never experienced having a disadvantage because of something she could not control (i.e. gender, race, etc). In those videos, she repeats several conservative talking points that make her sound like a 65 year old...and they honestly probably came from who parented her. It doesnt sound like she is very self-aware or mature. It is one thing to know how to get good grades in school and know what teachers want for exams, but having actual insight and intellectual curiosity is a completely separate thing and she does not have it as far as what I can tell.
You would also think that she would be networking more, involved in on-campus extracurriculars, and making the most of the breadth of her university's immense resources....but she just stays at home with her mom and sits in her room vlogging study sessions that 100 people join. It's sad because she is afraid to actually challenge herself and seems to want to remain a child forever.
As for her claims about being from a "middle class" family...I don't think that this is true. Clearly, she has travelled around the world from an early age. She went to boarding school in China, did expensive summer programs in the United States at very prestigious schools, applied to 19 colleges, all of which were reach schools and importantly, outside of her home country. I also think that if she is going by the UK class system, middle class is really upper middle-class...and that is probably what she actually is. She actually disappoints me. I think she just uses Youtube as a way to motivate herself to study and probably because she is very lonely.
Ah ok. So I am not allowed to have a different opinion and criticise a YouTuber's interests?
Am i on a fan site? I thought this was a gossip forum? That is why i am here anyway. If i wanted to praise her, I would just do so on her youtube channel.
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xoxoxo13
VIP Member
Ugh. Of course rich girl with money votes conservative. I thought she was the best out of the studytube bunch.
I can but it's him answering (sorry if that wasn't clear), so not sure he'll say anything about that
info so far:
- they are dating!
- he's from Stuttgart
- his favorite tiktok content of hers is when she talks about german rap every week
- his favorite book is improbable by adam fawer
- he likes that her sense of humor is the same irl as in her videos
- first thing he noticed about her was her hair
- seems like he has graduated from uni already, did not study law
- cereal first
- nutella with butter
- he gets her mcdonalds sometimes
- his favorite german rap songs are Rhythmus meines Lebens by Kool Savas and Tempelhofer Junge by Bushido
- someone asked if he was a vegetable what would he be and he replied with an aubergine emoji lol
Even if that's her background, her actions honestly don't make it seem like that, so you can't fault anyone for thinking otherwise. She has multiple designer bags and uses a lot of expensive skin care and make up for example and that kinda thing seems really important to her. I mean good for her if she can afford it but still. I'm not doubting her background but if she grew up midlde class, she's seemingly grown apart from that upbringing - maybe because of the money she has made from social media or just the social circles at Cambridge? And sure, she has a bunch of scholarships but they don't cover everything afaik, so it's still a privileged position to be able to choose to go abroad when she could've studied in Germany basically for free. Even if the mother doesn't make much, Elena has the privilege of her mother being willing and able to choose to go the more expensive route and spend that money on her. Plus I think she has a step-dad as well? Do we know what he does? Do we know her dad doesn't support her finanically? Even if she grew up with her single mom that doesn't necessarily mean the father doesn't support her financially? She might not be rich but it doesn't seem like she is poor either.
Obviously they're not the exact same, but they're in a similar space on the political spectrum and the types of people who vote for them are similar (meaning similar-ish demographics regarding age, gender, education level, etc.). Their refugee politics may differ but they're comporable in many aspects (even if the exact factual decisions might differ slightly because they're different countries with different issues)
It's (frankly) quite naive to ignore all the red flags regarding the CDU, especially in the recent years.
They're corrupt (most recently the "Maskenaffäre" 'mask scandal').
In 2017 they voted against marriage equality (including the "hardly super conservative" Angela Merkel).
Just last month they voted to keep limiting doctors from putting information about abortion on their websites.
They're doing virtually nothing to combat climate change (especially regarding coal power plants, they were vocally against Fridays For Future school strikes, etc.).
They have the second-smallest percentage of female MPs (at 23.4%, for comparison: the SPD has 41.7%)
There is an ongoing investigation against CDU member Jürgen Pföhler for "fahrlässige Tötung" (negligent homicide) because of his deliberate (lack of) actions in the Ahr valley floods last year. Not to mention Armin Laschet laughing at flood victims and being busy taking PR pictures, making the crisis committee wait for him before they could start their discussions.
They don't really seem to mind that the US air base Ramstein plans and controls(!) drone deployment in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan from that base aka on German soil (aiding the US in breaking international law), just y'know being okay with aiding in war crimes and killing civilians from German soil, but the CDU aren't that bad, right...
I could go on...
The "the CDU is liberal actually because refugees" argument has been instrumentalized to further a viewpoint that the facts just don't support if you think about it for more than 2 seconds. Looking past just the initial numbers is imperative: accepting refugees into the country is only the first step but a lot of the next steps were not handled well (by the CDU especially), like lack of recognizing foreign qualifications, lack of integration, lack of access to education, etc. And let's not act like there weren't loud voices within the CDU at the time against Merkel's decisions!
It's also not 2015 anymore and since then different members of the CDU have been pushing for stricter laws regarding the right of asylum, e.g. just this year the CDU spoke out *against* giving Ukrainian refugees benefits on par with Hartz IV (German unemployment benefits). Another thing that comes to mind: in 2020 regarding the Sea Watch 3 mission, CDU MP Stephan Mayer called NGOs rescuing refugees at sea a "shuttle service" and claimed rescuing refugees at sea makes them go on that journey in the first place because of the "pull-factor" of potentially being rescued by humanitarien NGOs. But yeah, they're not tories because they're very pro-refugees actually....
To bring this back to the topic of Elena: One of the most publicized Bundestag decisions recently was the introduction of the "Selbstbestimmungsgesetz" (a law basically making legally changing name and gender more accessible for trans folks). The MP she interned with voted against it. I am obviously not claiming that this is Elena's view or that she'd support any of the other decisions I mentioned, but if the CDU is the party she identifies most with, imo she has the duty to be aware of these kinds of things and think about whether she ultimately can support a party like this.
Sorry, didn't mean for this to turn into such a rant and the topics mentioned were obviously some of the more extreme examples and they're a bit all over the place but they're the ones that stuck with me and I could remember rn. Sorry if this isn't easy to follow, this took a bit to write up so can't be bothered to go over it again.
I mean... it's not a podcast it's just a series of videos where she talks about German rap that she calls podcast
Sorry, I'm really not trying to be a hater and ultimately think she seems sweet but we can still be realistic and critical. That's what this thread is for.
Nah PaigeY is definitely the best!
ellieaniston021
New member
LM
By the way, I watched a video where she said she has some very unpopular opinions about politics and feminism and now I wonder what they are, because I've never heard her say anything actually unpopular. I wonder if she keeps those opinions to herself because they would come across as classist/misogynistic or bigoted in some other way? I hope that's not the case, because she seems like a kind and reasonable person. But the fact that she votes conservative AND has unpopular opinions "about almost everything, especially politics and feminism" doesn't sound so great.
Hm, I don't know, the answers seemed fine to me. What made you think they were condescending?
By the way, I watched a video where she said she has some very unpopular opinions about politics and feminism and now I wonder what they are, because I've never heard her say anything actually unpopular. I wonder if she keeps those opinions to herself because they would come across as classist/misogynistic or bigoted in some other way? I hope that's not the case, because she seems like a kind and reasonable person. But the fact that she votes conservative AND has unpopular opinions "about almost everything, especially politics and feminism" doesn't sound so great.
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Elena, Paigey and Astrid are pretty much the only studytubers I watch anymore as many of the others have become pretty unbearableI like Astrid as well but sometimes she tries so hard to be Cool™ and it's unnecessary. Paige was my favourite but I admit I've lost interest a little since she's graduated from Cambridge. I enjoyed living vicariously through her and actuarial science doesn't spark my interest one bit
I like Elena, I enjoyed her room tours and routines etc before and she seems to have a good head over her shoulders. She can come off patronising sometimes (the gifted child video comes to mind) but overall I like that she doesn't exist for the camera or hasn't sold her soul to the influencer label like Jade unfortunately has.
I also really envy her hair!
(Jade and Ruby ahem ahem). Obviously they all have faults but they all put out decent content. Paigey is definitely a favourite (although I agree with you about the actuarian stuff - not really that interesting compared to studying at Cambridge). I'm kinda seeing what you say about Astrid. Also, I'm sure she doesn't intend it but sometimes she can come across as quite arrogant. It's like she often flips between putting herself down and then talking about how good she is at everything and how hot she is and it can come across slightly desperate? Your mileage may vary on this one. As for Elena, she is very sweet and clearly intelligent. I don't find her videos quite as interesting as other youtubers but other than that there is not too much she does wrong.I also wonder - what are these studytubers going to do once they graduate? For Astrid, at least she is still doing law school. But people like Jack aren't really doing anything? Also it is kinda awkward of Paigey to be vlogging her job... lol. Maybe I am being a little harsh.
I agree, I think she's trying to juxtapose that sort of "booksmart"/preppy aesthetic of hers with something more "down to earth" (/almost "trashy" not in a bad way, just not something that's perceived as fancy or nice). Idk how to explain it but I feel the same way about how much she talks about German rap on tiktok, I think she enjoys how much it doesn't match what you'd assume about her based on her outfits/aesthetics/degree/study content