Twitch is indeed a really interesting case-study for burnout and social interactions. I don't think it's fair to say that <i>everyone</i> is lonely or angry, but I've certainly seen streamers get that way. What's interesting is the dichotomy between people who have been streaming near-daily for a decade without issue, and the bandwagoners who break down after a couple months. I don't think there's any conclusive evidence as to <i>why</i> this happens, but I've got a few theories:<p>- If you fight your chat, more people will try to bring you down. It's a feedback loop.<p>- Conversely, if you refuse to engage with your chat, people may become bored and vicious to get your attention.<p>- A lot of modern "content creators" are used to highly-moderated platforms like TikTok and Instagram.<p>- Twitch is a free-for-all that rewards the most in-demand content, not what <i>you</i> want to do.<p>When people fall victim to these concerns, they almost always start to spiral out, and not in the kind of way that can be reset when you turn on your stream tomorrow. People like tyler1, Amouranth and Dream who see massive amounts of abuse and goading messages are caught in this bear trap: they can't leave, they can't do what they want to on-stream, they're forced to engage with an audience that hates them and they have no good alternatives. It's frankly kind of sad.<p>On the <i>other</i> side though, are streamers who have been at it for several years, and are relatively "well-adjusted". If you ever plan to stream yourself on Twitch, you should study them instead: people like Vinesauce, Jerma985, Limmy, Limesalicious, and other people who take their streams in stride. It's a fickle medium, but after a while you'll start to understand how harmony with your viewers can create not only wonderful and enjoyable content, but <i>sustainable</i> content.