Ruby Granger #45 "Um" -- Ruby Granger, 2023

[Griftwood]

I love how her pretentiousness *almost* passes for something genuine, but then you’re hit with ”Nabakov” and realise it’s probably just another Goodreads quote she saw and decided to run with because it fits whatever flimsy narrative she’s trying to build.

Let’s all take a moment to reflackt on Roobee’s 8 months’ worth of lift selfies and running from coffee shop to loibry to coffee shop and how that apparently counts as stoddying for her, and shed a tear or two of premonitory loss.

 

[EllanieB_99]

I just saw the IG post and immediately thought that she must struggle with processing that time flew over her head and she has to leave cosplaying like a fictional character behind and tries to cover it up with quotes and words she would never use. I am sad for her, genuinely :/

 

[Griftwood]

also this could be confirmation that she wasn’t accepted for a DPhil?

 

[yeya]

I love how her pretentiousness *almost* passes for something genuine, but then you’re hit with ”Nabakov” and realise it’s probably just another Goodreads quote she saw and decided to run with because it fits whatever flimsy narrative she’s trying to build.

Let’s all take a moment to reflackt on Roobee’s 8 months’ worth of lift selfies and running from coffee shop to loibry to coffee shop and how that apparently counts as stoddying for her, and shed a tear or two of premonitory loss.

View attachment 2957045

Sorry, I’ve just looked up the quote and seen that it’s about sleep but I really thought it was about TW

Spoiler

su*cide

…. What a bleak quote. Very unusual choice.

 

[StatusWoe]

I love how her pretentiousness *almost* passes for something genuine, but then you’re hit with ”Nabakov” and realise it’s probably just another Goodreads quote she saw and decided to run with because it fits whatever flimsy narrative she’s trying to build.

Let’s all take a moment to reflackt on Roobee’s 8 months’ worth of lift selfies and running from coffee shop to loibry to coffee shop and how that apparently counts as stoddying for her, and shed a tear or two of premonitory loss.

View attachment 2957045

I've really got to start dropping the word 'chronolibidinal' into my daily conversations.

Sorry, I’ve just looked up the quote and seen that it’s about sleep but I really thought it was about TW

Spoiler

su*cide

…. What a bleak quote. Very unusual choice.

Totally agree. It doesn't help that the other quote 'what did it all lead to?' sounds like the words of someone questioning their life choices. I know the meaning is probably less bleak in context, but here on Ruby's insta post it's giving 'depressed person'.

 

[gossip_guy]

She's just terrified of growing up and always has been. She's just had another birthday and is another year older and her latest attempt at delaying adulthood is coming to an end, so she's moping and Googling another handful of quotes to frame her inability to let go of being TWALVE FORAVVER as some kind of grand intellectual exercise.

And I'm sure she picked the sleep quote because she thought it fit her 'up at the crack of dawn, always busy' fake persona - to sleep is a sin, for Ruby might miss out on the opportunity for productivity! In reality she's inherently lazy and just won't stop yearning for the time when she was a big fish in a small pond and got endless praise from teachers for just memorising a couple of basic facts.

 

[MavisBeacon]

I agree - i think she's having some hard contact with reality. Actual academic life is hard - you have to be original and creative to succeed rather than just learn and regurgitate stuff like school or even uni. Also I imagine she's coming into contact with genuinely smart and fiercely ambitious people at Oxford, which can't be good for her self confidence. I feel sorry for her, to be honest.

 

[gabbysolis]

I don’t think she needs to take these entry level, admin, library volunteer jobs like people are suggesting. She needs to give herself a kick and make her content better.

She already has an audience, if she would just be smart about it she could get good ads and make good connections with publishers to get a children’s book deal to keep some money flowing in. If she had been proactive with her business (or had better management?) she could have tried to do partnerships with shops to get her stationery stocked on physical shelves. If she had worked at it, she could have found a niche on TikTok for her stationery and gone viral and sold through TikTok shop and her website. But she’s lazy, she doesn’t invest in the business and she’s terrified/paralysed of what seems like basically any adult decision. All she can do is ‘school’/uni.

Her relevancy online is only going to dwindle as the years go on and the chance at all this money will slip away.

 

[leah99]

I don’t think she needs to take these entry level, admin, library volunteer jobs like people are suggesting. She needs to give herself a kick and make her content better.

She already has an audience, if she would just be smart about it she could get good ads and make good connections with publishers to get a children’s book deal to keep some money flowing in. If she had been proactive with her business (or had better management?) she could have tried to do partnerships with shops to get her stationery stocked on physical shelves. If she had worked at it, she could have found a niche on TikTok for her stationery and gone viral and sold through TikTok shop and her website. But she’s lazy, she doesn’t invest in the business and she’s terrified/paralysed of what seems like basically any adult decision. All she can do is ‘school’/uni.

Her relevancy online is only going to dwindle as the years go on and the chance at all this money will slip away.

I fully agree with this!! She has an incredible following, it'd be foolish to let that go to waste and the fact she didn't grasp that opportunity during her gap year really confuses me. She'd do well to knuckle down with Pumpkin Productivity and start to make products to sell in traditional stores and bookshops, and even get these books written and published if she was so serious about it, or just to create good content about the creation of said books. It feels like such a waste seeing her regurgitate the same sorts of videos when she has the opportunity to do so much more with her platform and actually get good at what she's already doing. She's been on the platform for a good few years now and her content and videography haven't really changed, it's all this gifted-child facade that is dwindling very quickly and isn't solid enough to become anything more than it is. She's in an amazing position but with all jobs, you need to work hard and it really seems her content is an afterthought whilst she still lives in this fantasy of what she was told when she was in school. I don't expect everyone to have incredible video skills but it's not as if she's new to it— her videos are just not engaging enough now to her audience because they're all the same age as her and she just hasn't grown up.

As you said, content creation doesn't last forever and her business is a great way to keep income coming in once her niche begins to fade but at the same time, if she's just going to bring out yet another bloody planner and barely promote it, it's hardly going to grow with it as it is. She honestly just needs to stop living in this fantasy land where she'll get what she wants and actually begin to work hard at something other than academia because those rose-tinted glasses are certainly slipping now she's in Oxford and it's clearly not what she thought it'd be.

 

[StatusWoe]

I don’t think she needs to take these entry level, admin, library volunteer jobs like people are suggesting. She needs to give herself a kick and make her content better.

She already has an audience, if she would just be smart about it she could get good ads and make good connections with publishers to get a children’s book deal to keep some money flowing in. If she had been proactive with her business (or had better management?) she could have tried to do partnerships with shops to get her stationery stocked on physical shelves. If she had worked at it, she could have found a niche on TikTok for her stationery and gone viral and sold through TikTok shop and her website. But she’s lazy, she doesn’t invest in the business and she’s terrified/paralysed of what seems like basically any adult decision. All she can do is ‘school’/uni.

Her relevancy online is only going to dwindle as the years go on and the chance at all this money will slip away.

It's sad to see the wasted potential of her brand/channel. Maybe it doesn't matter to Ruby because she's still bringing in money. She doesn't seem to have a mind for business. By that I just mean she seems happy to let other people take charge instead of making her own choices. I think this would have been understandable at the beginning of her YouTube days because she was so young and needed advice, but as she's now in her twenties it would be a good thing to rely less on management. I have a low opinion of Sixteenth and think Ruby should have been more selective with brand partnerships. Bird & Blend made sense because of her tea obsession, but even then it got tiresome the way she shoehorned their products into literally every video.

Pumpkin Productivity is a good example of what NOT to do. Branching out into stationery isn't a bad idea for a studytuber, but the quality of the products was terrible and reviews noted that the planners fell apart easily. The design was simple and Ruby had very little creative input. Choosing a template seemed to be her main contribution. The planners were very overpriced, there were repeated shipping delays - the whole thing was a mess. IIRC Ruby didn't address the delays for ages and then responded in a half-hearted way, e.g. she still charged the customer for their missing planner. Meanwhile, she left planners around the Exeter campus to be found by uni students who probably weren't interested in soggy notepads that had been left on a bench. I think this was during Covid too, just to add to the stupidity of the idea.

 

[moosesauna]

I don’t think she needs to take these entry level, admin, library volunteer jobs like people are suggesting. She needs to give herself a kick and make her content better.

She already has an audience, if she would just be smart about it she could get good ads and make good connections with publishers to get a children’s book deal to keep some money flowing in. If she had been proactive with her business (or had better management?) she could have tried to do partnerships with shops to get her stationery stocked on physical shelves. If she had worked at it, she could have found a niche on TikTok for her stationery and gone viral and sold through TikTok shop and her website. But she’s lazy, she doesn’t invest in the business and she’s terrified/paralysed of what seems like basically any adult decision. All she can do is ‘school’/uni.

Her relevancy online is only going to dwindle as the years go on and the chance at all this money will slip away.

I think she should do both: get a real-world job *and* make her content better. If her content was better or focused on a wider variety of things, it'd be more sensible for her to become a full-time content creator and 'skip the day job', but she's too disorganised and lacking in decent ideas to keep her channel up into her next decade. Either she wakes up and starts making creative content, analysing trends and incorporating fresh ideas into her channel, or she risks losing a sizeable chunk of her following. Her current fans will soon grow up and realise that Ruby is not a good role model, and younger kids are likely to get bored with her slow, repetitive videos. At least having a job that gets her outside of home will enable her to understand what the majority of 20-somethings are going through, which could kickstart something decent.

 

[FolderDuvet]

I fully agree with this!! She has an incredible following, it'd be foolish to let that go to waste and the fact she didn't grasp that opportunity during her gap year really confuses me. She'd do well to knuckle down with Pumpkin Productivity and start to make products to sell in traditional stores and bookshops, and even get these books written and published if she was so serious about it, or just to create good content about the creation of said books. It feels like such a waste seeing her regurgitate the same sorts of videos when she has the opportunity to do so much more with her platform and actually get good at what she's already doing. She's been on the platform for a good few years now and her content and videography haven't really changed, it's all this gifted-child facade that is dwindling very quickly and isn't solid enough to become anything more than it is. She's in an amazing position but with all jobs, you need to work hard and it really seems her content is an afterthought whilst she still lives in this fantasy of what she was told when she was in school. I don't expect everyone to have incredible video skills but it's not as if she's new to it— her videos are just not engaging enough now to her audience because they're all the same age as her and she just hasn't grown up.

As you said, content creation doesn't last forever and her business is a great way to keep income coming in once her niche begins to fade but at the same time, if she's just going to bring out yet another bloody planner and barely promote it, it's hardly going to grow with it as it is. She honestly just needs to stop living in this fantasy land where she'll get what she wants and actually begin to work hard at something other than academia because those rose-tinted glasses are certainly slipping now she's in Oxford and it's clearly not what she thought it'd be.

She's said in the past that she doesn't want to be a content creator forever, and that she has other aims. I think her content is, at present, golden handcuffs. She still makes good enough money off it to justify doing it, even if she kind of doesn't want to. That was definitely the vibe in MT and HT, though she seems to have perked up a bit recently.

If video creation was a passion in and of itself for her, she would be using it to help her get through and it would be her happy thing. However, she only ever portrays the best version of herself, and so I believe she is using it for positive reinforcement from fans. When she doesn't have anything positive to demonstrate (coffee fuelled late night essay crises are unfortunately not her brand, even though she's definitely had some I reckon), she finds it impossible to make content because she fears she won't get the "oh wow you're so smart" "you're so inspirational" "you're a role model" that she relies upon.

Couple that with the fact that she doesn't really have anything else going on in terms of marketable skills to get her a similarly well paid job, it's no surprise she continues to slog on (again, she seems to have refound some passion for it with her "absurd day" videos, which I enjoy, personally). She won't stop until she finally goes off the rails or it finally stops making her money because people have stopped watching.

 

[crowleyskeeper1]

hdu maybe it just takes her a really long time to poop!

lol the curious case of the constipated vEGaN

 

[leah99]

She's said in the past that she doesn't want to be a content creator forever, and that she has other aims. I think her content is, at present, golden handcuffs. She still makes good enough money off it to justify doing it, even if she kind of doesn't want to. That was definitely the vibe in MT and HT, though she seems to have perked up a bit recently.

If video creation was a passion in and of itself for her, she would be using it to help her get through and it would be her happy thing. However, she only ever portrays the best version of herself, and so I believe she is using it for positive reinforcement from fans. When she doesn't have anything positive to demonstrate (coffee fuelled late night essay crises are unfortunately not her brand, even though she's definitely had some I reckon), she finds it impossible to make content because she fears she won't get the "oh wow you're so smart" "you're so inspirational" "you're a role model" that she relies upon.

Couple that with the fact that she doesn't really have anything else going on in terms of marketable skills to get her a similarly well paid job, it's no surprise she continues to slog on (again, she seems to have refound some passion for it with her "absurd day" videos, which I enjoy, personally). She won't stop until she finally goes off the rails or it finally stops making her money because people have stopped watching.

Yeah, that's true. It's clear she doesn't have the passion for it which is a shame. And you're right, I can only think of a handful of instances where she has posted less-than-idealised versions of herself which also seem to serve the same purpose of that positive reinforcement (the other week's seminar comes to mind where she was a bit critical of herself and the comments were largely "oh no!! but you were amazing!!!" because realistically, you're going to struggle in some regard and sharing those parts of herself doesn't really fit into what she wants to share. I get you want to share just the good bits, on my social media I definitely don't share me on my bad days, but it'd be nice to see her seem more human and less like she's just putting on this persona all the time, because the glimpses that we see of that are actually really lovely!

That reminds me of when I was doing my degree and... the amount of all-nighters I'd be pulling and coffee I'd go through I do not miss those days lol but as you said, it's super normal for students to go through that, it's not all sunshine and rainbows and actually, if she started to share those moments a bit more, it'd personally make it a bit more relatable

 

[yeya]

Why is she wearing two cardigans she can’t possibly think this looks good. It’s so awful and frumpy. None of the colours are flattering for her skin tone either. And for the love of god this girl needs a haircut so sick of her low ponies, turd buns

 

[friendlyfire]

Two cardigans and bare legs! Make it make sense

 

[StatusWoe]

Why is she wearing two cardigans she can’t possibly think this looks good. It’s so awful and frumpy. None of the colours are flattering for her skin tone either. And for the love of god this girl needs a haircut so sick of her low ponies, turd buns
View attachment 2961534

Why is everything so crumpled? Including that sheet (rug?) in the background.

 

[timemoveson]

Why is she wearing two cardigans she can’t possibly think this looks good. It’s so awful and frumpy. None of the colours are flattering for her skin tone either. And for the love of god this girl needs a haircut so sick of her low ponies, turd buns
View attachment 2961534

Her heart is so cold that she needs two cardigans to keep the top of her warm

 

[Hannahebee]

I know she's only got her dissertation left to do but she seems to be spending more time at home than at uni for Trinity Term.

 

[crowleyskeeper1]

I know she's only got her dissertation left to do but she seems to be spending more time at home than at uni for Trinity Term.

I'm more surprised that she hasn't already packed up her accommodation and completely moved out.