Hannah Witton #2

[whataboutit]

I know it’s a good thing that people recognise the amount of work it takes to raise a child but i can’t explain why it still makes me cringe sometimes how people like Hannah and Melanie speak about it nowadays. I can’t imagine my mam (and that generation) in the 80s/90s talking about her day “as doing a full day of *parenting* without childcare” when it was just a normal day.

 

[CirceRises]

I haven’t watched her years (I stopped taking her opinions on sex ed seriously after she admitted that she didn’t know any of the phases of the female reproductive cycle or that any of them mattered when it came to getting pregnant) but I randomly got curious and looked at her channel.

She seems to be struggling with staying relevant or maintaining a following and I think the big thing is that she hasn’t adapted to YouTubes changing taste. I have a feeling she doesn’t watch YouTube that much or find new creators because she’s very stuck in the 2010s format.

And her thumbnails show that millennial blandness. Always with a big fake smile with a mundane title.
“I TRIED MARMALADE FOR THE FIRST TIME” Bland colours, slow paced. It only works like that if you’re a mega star and there’s much less content on YouTube - which is how it was years ago.

It’s dated and boring.

The youtube videos that I watch usually have collages or aesthetic images at the thumbnail. Or something genuinely candid.

If she got more raw and real and not so “” all the time, it might actually grow into something genuine. Also she’s not cosy to watch and that’s a big factor in “I’m a mum and watch me live my normal life” content.

 

[eilidhh]

Her new video... wow.... I got as far as her saying "fuck you, you don't know me" and closed it and unsubscribed. She'd maybe be getting less "judgey" comments about how she disliked being a parent if she didn't continuously make videos about how much she dislikes being a parent

 

[cazzaaa]

Why is she always in her underwear on Instagram?!

And why does she think her child is nothing but a face? You won't show his face but you'll show literally everything else of him, including his voice and him having a tantrum????

Imagine growing up and your mum is in her underwear on social media for no reason

 

[Lola123]

Oh fuck off banging on about why you won't show Rowan online, no one cares he isn't even cute

Wish she’d do the same with herself and Dan

 

[storynerd]

It's that day again! For the first time, we have an actual paid Patreon number so I've updated the previous years' numbers based on an estimate of 21% of Patreons actually giving her money. Max has gone up to £20 a month this year when it was previously £8.50, which is why the range is so much bigger. I suspect most people are on the lower end.

24-25 £98,250 - £655,000 depending on how much they're paying on Patreon
23-24 £91,882 - £260,333
22-23 £31,888 - £90,349.56
21-22 £29,089 - £82,420

So not quite as massively dramatic as I've been estimating for the last few years but still not bad for someone whose job is mostly just reading and talking about how productive they are.

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Christ. No wonder she doesn't want to get a real job! £100k a year to do fuck all

 

[replace32titles]

Less than three minutes into "are five year plans pointless?" and she's said, in her best girlboss-actually-doing-something voice "Business blazer on!" four fucking times. A year ago, I'd have said Hannah's one of the hardest-working YouTubers out there (it's a low bar) but now she's scraping the barrel for content and she's not the high-powered woman of business she thinks she is just because she's wearing an Eras costume on camera.

 

[BumbleBeee]

I watched through most of Hannah's video about working without childcare... It felt very unfair to call that "without childcare," I think. She quite literally had her parents watching her son so she could sleep in, scroll on tiktok, etc.! She 1000% had childcare! I often feel like I can be a bit dramatic with my hate towards influencers sometimes, but this felt just weird. Sure her son kept poking into the room she was working in or whatever, but I imagine that happens a lot if you work from home. It certainly wasn't enough to consider that "working without childcare" when her father would barge in after and say "sorry!" and pull him out of the room!

 

[eilidhh]

I'm enjoying her video about budgeting but I don't understand why she keeps attributing the loss of her income to having had a baby. A temporary loss is understandable as she was on mat leave, but then she went on to have a massive career change that so far has not paid off. Also she keeps mentioning the gender dynamics at play in her relationship now and it's clearly bothering her, but, again, she kinda dug herself in that hole.

Also she doesn't mention that she only "works" 20 hours a week... that's part time hours!

She also desperately wants to be able to complain about being an oppressed woman. She says they actively try to avoid the gendered dynamics in their relationship, but where/when have they done this? She got pregnant, she breastfed, she took the longer parental leave (maternity/paternity), she now works part time, she does the majority of the childcare/housework, they could have easily made the decision that Dan was going to do more of those things.

 

[juy7nhio]

At the beginning of her recent video about the to-do list bingo card, she says that her channel is about 'finding joy and play in adulthood and parenthood'. I don't think anyone would describe her content that way?

no way... all i get from her channel is someone who doesn't know what their job is anymore and has no clear purpose or direction, and is also sorely missing the village she COULD have in manchester. she doesn't even seem to enjoy parenting that much.

 

[eilidhh]

I’m fairly new to her channel and found her through Leena Norms so not overly sure what her general content is. I watch a lot of book content so always happy when she focuses on that but I understand she is more of a general lifestyle blogger?

>Complaining that she’s not pregnant with her second child
>Complaining that having a child “ruined” her career even though she quit her more successful channel/content
>Content about “productivity” and how busy she is - even though she makes one video a week and employs two people
>Content about her awful style that even a “stylist” can’t seem to sort out
>Eating/cooking the most bland beige food available
Have I missed anything?

 

[moose622]

I also came here after seeing the clips of Giovanna's podcast...I fully understand there is frustration/heartbreak in trying to get pregnant but that she's directing it at her personal 'mum group' on a huge podcast, imagine what those women now feel like hearing that when they were just innocently sharing their good news in what should be a supportive (and semi-private!) space. Just really rubbed me up the wrong way on their behalf.

 

[Chinese_whispers]

It's that day again! For the first time, we have an actual paid Patreon number so I've updated the previous years' numbers based on an estimate of 21% of Patreons actually giving her money. Max has gone up to £20 a month this year when it was previously £8.50, which is why the range is so much bigger. I suspect most people are on the lower end.

24-25 £98,250 - £655,000 depending on how much they're paying on Patreon
23-24 £91,882 - £260,333
22-23 £31,888 - £90,349.56
21-22 £29,089 - £82,420

So not quite as massively dramatic as I've been estimating for the last few years but still not bad for someone whose job is mostly just reading and talking about how productive they are.

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I say this every year but she’s absolutely robbing a living. She barely scrapes 20 hrs a week working these days by her own admission. I’m in the wrong job

 

[sunniva]

Feel a bit bad for her when she acts like a data analysis girl boss with her year 6 homework graphs. Doing a fake presentation about thumbnails in her living room and pretending it’s deeply interesting. Even her Subscribers are commenting on this vid to gently suggest these numbers are massively warped and meaningless due to early sub clicks.

I’m not a data person by any means but I have to demonstrate outcomes for work occasionally so I’ve skimmed a couple of books on data presentation. And like… the only real rules are 1. use meaningful data and 2. don’t use pie charts. Meanwhile Hannah’s whole shtick is putting useless stats into the same useless visual.

BTW I can’t emphasise enough, it’s not that deep to me - I work in the arts lol so explicitly not a science wizz. But Hannah’s whole thing is that she looooves the numbers and audience analysis. It’s soooo nerdy!! She’s such a type A girly!!

The social media career path has obviously paid off financially but I think there’s been a massive opportunity cost of a more typical, more dignified career where she could have used her brain more (assume she was academic as a kid).

I think this is apparent in her constant over-emphasis on any aspect of content creation which legitimises it, usually by proximity to other professional areas - Eg stats, business management, academia, training courses. The same reason she makes networking events, branding, Patreon, statistics etc. into her public ‘’work identity’’.

She pretends those things are the substance of her career, when the real substance is what gets her views - talking about sex, exploiting her child and medical history, then to a lesser extent reading shit books and buying ugly charity shop clothes. That’s the dichotomy of her content…. super organised, high achieving personality but the videos are mostly mind numbing or sheer exploitation of her intimate life.

She genuinely seems highly unsatisfied with this line of work so dresses it up as best she can. IMO it’s also the same reason for the half arsed career change and all the stalling about decisions until she has another baby.

 

[StrawberryBanana90]

Must be nice

Tattle really needs an eye roll reaction

It's a shame she's become really unrelatable now...I thought she was one of the better of the Brit crew but she's really struggled to shift with the times on social media

 

[sunniva]

I feel really bad about harping on about her hormones all the time. But I’m genuinely in disbelief about her fertility woes. She’s either very ill informed or pretending to be.

She said her menstrual cycle length is something like 80 days. Obviously nature is wonderful and miracles happen but the odds of a natural pregnancy are close to nil with hormones that out of whack - even when she does menstruate it’s unlikely that the prior ovulation was successful/viable.

I have severe PCOS and have spent years figuring this all out and getting my hormones back on track. Mainly I managed through diet, exercise and supplementation which all came from my own research into the huge amount of evidence out there. I went from cycle lengths similar to hers, to a regular 30ish day cycle and semi-regular ovulation. This was mainly through blood sugar management with diet and exercise. Slouching around all day eating 10 ham sandwiches is not exactly conducive to fixing her insulin resistance, even if she’s prescribed metformin.

She admitted herself that when she conceived Rowan she was in the best physical shape she’s ever been in, noted that it wasn’t a coincidence, then talked herself out of it because she didn’t want to fixate on exercise. As somebody who also recovered from a major eating disorder I’m fairly impatient with non-disordered women like Hannah pretending they’re somehow vulnerable to disordered behaviours when they’re simply not. It’s an insulting misunderstanding of a mental health issue she doesn’t have - most people are able to change their diet and become more active without any issue.

Anyway. I’m just annoyed because her infertility is both severe yet very manageable if she was motivated to improve it, but she’s talking about it as if it’s a big mystery she’s passively waiting to be solved. At this point I’m pretty sure she’s just hanging out until she qualifies for NHS fertility support.

But if she wanted it to desperately, she could just pay - an IUI would be cheap(ish) and almost definitely successful if PCOS is her only barrier. It’s basically chemically induced ovulation, followed by insemination directly into the uterus. Would be under a couple of thousand and she could be pregnant before August. I don’t get her at all.

 

[whatayarn]

Her and Leena did exactly the same thing. So beggy.

I thought it was embarrassing when I saw Leena’s video and then I saw Hannah was doing the same thing. I knew they’d end up going, but I struggle to feel happy for them because they live such blessed lives already in comparison to most. Leena’s now made a reel saying this is your sign to make the outfit for the party you’re not invited to, but in most situations when we’re truly left out or lonely, planning the outfit won’t manifest the desired outcome. In fact, it could make you feel more lonely. Sending positivity to all those who will struggle to afford a regular cinema ticket to see the film, even though the musical means a lot to them too.

 

[whatayarn]

Always very brave of YouTubers with more income than the average pleb to announce that they’re worried about their income because of their own decision to cut back on what they make.

 

[whataboutit]

Watched her new video today and idk maybe it was the context of watching it on my lunch break during a hectic day at work but I was genuinely flawed at her happily admitting she only works 8 hours PER WEEK on YouTube and consultancy combined. What she is portraying to us as a respectable career is equivalent to 1 working day for the rest of us lol.

And tbh I’m just bitter because she obviously makes good money and still puts her kid in childcare half the week lol. But it’s the difference between the highly disciplined and scheduled entrepreneur she presents herself as and the reality of her 8 hours work week that I find embarrassing.

Her other categories of time were ‘learning’, ‘personal’ and ‘social media’ which I’m refusing to count as work lol. Except some brand deals I suppose but that’s likely 20 minutes a week when averaged across a year.

What does she do the rest of the time? Seriously Hannah what are you spending time on that you need 3 days of childcare for when you only work 1?

I haven’t watched the whole video yet, but how the fuck does she need all these productivity tools to manage such little work? And her thinking she could be a project manager? I think she uses these tools, calendar blocking, etc to make herself feel busy and productive rather than actually to output anything. She markets herself as this productivity queen but she’s just doing a bunch of nothing busy work

 

[sunniva]

Quite unsettling that she is so blasé about family planning grief. I feel that’s the core of what people have an issue with re second baby. It’s more that the avenues of expression are inappropriate, rather than anyone having an issue with her wanting a second baby desperately. Especially with her medical history.

It’s a very millennial thing she does of disguising her vulnerability online in that twee ~little wins~ ~sharing for others out there~ ~de stigmatise~ way… like just say you’re upset and need support? Why the need for this shallow positivity and burying the lead in the sand?

Re Rowan online… agree that if she was sincere about protecting his privacy she would just keep him offline. There’s no reason anybody needs to know his childcare schedule, know what type of playgroups he attends and on what day, see his bedroom, all the clothes she buys him, everything he eats including weaning him from breastfeeding. This is all stuff she regularly uses as content, it’s quite sickening actually.

I felt her showing him wearing that dress was a clear case of engagement farming. Boys can wear dresses, ofc, who cares, and he is also a toddler and it’s plausible he regularly wears dresses. But she knows gender non conforming children are a controversial topic on the internet, even if it’s just people commenting positively. She will love that it scores her the woke feminist points she’s been fishing for online for a whole decade.

I just find it in bad taste.