Happy 2026! As the new year rolls in, I find myself reflecting on the events from 2025, and spending too much time at my computer, editing together my latest “year in review” video, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend.
So, despite all the time it takes to write, shoot and edit the video, despite all the stress it causes me throughout the year, despite the endless criticism I receive from my girlfriend and despite the low viewership numbers why do it? This year, more then most, I find myself reflecting on the why; perhaps in an attempt justify it, or perhaps I’m just getting nostalgic.
I’ve been producing “year in review” videos for all of my adult life. I started messing around with video cameras and shooting videos for YouTube way back when I was a high school student in 2006. At that time, the Internet video landscape as very different; influencers wen’t yet a thing (I suspect a lot of them probably weren’t even born), YouTube was still an independent company, and most people consumed video media from traditional linear television. People didn’t make videos and post them online to get rich – they did it because they were passionate about a topic, or because it was a hobby they enjoyed. And it was in this environment that I, along with my best friend at the time, began creating content for our brand new YouTube channel – CKL Internet TV.
At the time, I thought I wanted to be a broadcast journalist and had aspirations of maybe one day becoming a presenter on an internationally acclaimed news channel like CNN or the BBC, and so I started making videos in the style of a traditional TV news program, complete with a makeshift anchor desk and wall of video screens in the background.
My first retrospective was released in 2007 at the young age of 16 and it was…. rough. Shot on an analogue camcorder, exported in WMV format it’s content was mainly things that I could remember off the top of my head just before filming. I haven’t looked back at these videos in years and the production quality makes even me cringe!
As the years rolled on, things improved. I got a better camera, my editing got better and I started to pay more attention to the stories I was including. YouTube, now owned by Google, removed their 10-minute video time limit and, no longer artificially restricted by time, I began releasing longer format productions and included more events shaping the world.
By the mid 2010’s I was out of college and no longer had aspirations of working in TV news, but I still enjoyed the video production as a hobby and continued to work on various projects with friends, so working on Year in Review kept my skills sharp.
By the time the late 2010’s rolled around I was entering the middle phase of life. I was perusing a career, rather then a hodge podge of jobs, I was responsible for a mortgage and found myself spending more time on income-generating hobbies, such as my hosting company; Free Range Cloud. As my other video projects fell away, I kept up with Year in Review more out of habit then passion.
By the time COVID hit, all of my remaining video projects had ceased and possibly Year in Review would have as well except for the fact that the world of news had changed in a way that just didn’t sit right with me.
There were now more sources of news and information then ever before. Dozens of cable news channels were available on TV and streaming platforms, Social media offered new perspectives on world events and push notifications meant instantaneous awareness of breaking news. It should have been a golden era of information and yet people, for the most part, were less informed then when I started back in 2007. Rather then getting their news from trusted sources, people were increasingly getting their news from social media; feeds that were polluted with misinformation, clickbait and bots; promoted by algorithms specifically designed to elicit anger and suck you further into a rabbit hole of fake news. There was, it seemed, more dishonest, inaccurate and outright false information then accurate reporting and so it was that I kept the videos coming if, for no other reason, then to document for myself the events of the world should people begin to forget history.
It was also around this time that my videos lengthened significantly as I began to provide extensive context, and I abandoned the concept of “neutrality at all costs” because some things are just incredibly screwed up and need to be called out as such.
And so we arrive, dear readers, in 2026. Nearly 20 years after I began this project I continue it. Partially out of habit, partially out of passion, but mostly out of a desire to document and maintain an accurate record of events that I know, without a doubt, haven’t been altered or tampered with. And so, throughout the year I read, watch and listen to the news and I take notes. Events that I deem to be significant go into a folder and then, every December I take time off work, review the folder, dust off the old video camera and begin to document, if for no one else then myself, the events of the year.
2025 in review is available on YouTube for all to see: https://youtu.be/xV5VqKqdL64