Romanian teen spurs contemplative discourse

Elias Pisot employs social media to spur dialogue. Photos submitted

By Tom Victoria

Elias Pisot looks at the big picture and gets others to do the same. He posts contemplative videos to invite rumination and discussion.

The teen Romanian content creator described his content.

“For me, it represents more of a stream of consciousness because I don't overly script my videos,” he said. “I've started writing down some main ideas I want to talk about during the videos, but most of the time, it's just what is popping up in my head and the ideas I'm currently sorting through.”

Elias’ evident maturity belies his youth.

“It's stream of consciousness,” he said. “Just check out what a 14-year-old thinks about the world, what his mind immediately brings up. Having read a little bit beforehand about the subject, he’s talking to you equal to equal and trying to spur on an interaction in the comments.”

Elias’ goal already is being met.

“There have been some interesting conversations in my comments and I'm very proud of them,” he said. “Some people were talking about Jesus’ cross in my comment section. It was funny to see because conversations that profound usually don't happen. I'm really proud I could start conversations like that.”

Elias said there’s nothing pretentious about the content.

“As a brief description of my content, a cultured 14-year-old's stream of consciousness,” he said. “That would be it. It's not highbrow philosophy or anything of the sort.”

Elias walking in Bucharest, the capital of Romania.

Elias said the idea is to not restrict one’s view to a limited bubble.

“It's all about thinking about the big picture for me,” he said. “Just not looking at what's immediate and asking, how will I be at 50 years old? If I make it to 100 years old, how will my life be then? How will the decisions that I make right now affect that future self? Because that future self is still adherently me. It's still me. So just looking at my future self, maybe even past self with a bit of sympathy.”

Elias hopes his content gives his followers food for thought.

“I do not make my videos for people to take notes,” he said. “They should get an idea from them and then be prompted to analyze that idea further with better sources. But just prompting my viewers to some sense, to some desire of knowledge, because without a desire for knowledge, you can't do anything. In the first place, it would be inspiration and a bit of motivation as well.”

Elias is setting an example.

“If they see a 14-year-old that is at least trying to do these things, that might crush their excuses a little bit,” he said. “Even though he's not doing something world-changing, absolutely monumental, he's still trying. I recently got to 1,000 subscribers and built it from the ground up with no other external support besides my own mind and stream of consciousness. You can do it as well. So inspiration and motivation, those are the two things.”

Elias built his following in just a year.

“My first video was published on the 31st of October 2023,” he said. “It's pretty fresh, but I think I've improved a lot from my first video to now. And that's clearly visible.”

Elias selects his topics from a variety of sources.

“I had multiple strategies along the months,” he said. “Sometimes, I would just read something and it would seem very interesting. For example, I really like reading. Some of my content is purely about that. I would grab a book I really like, and whilst I was reading it, I wrote down an idea on each page. When I wanted to record, I looked at that page, saw the idea that I wrote down with my own words and improvised a short about it.”

Elias draws upon his own experience.

“And recently, I'm looking at what is most relevant to me right now,” he said. “What are the things that I have learned that I can in some way articulate in order to help another person? That's the strategy, but it's something improvisational. I don't put a lot of thought into it. It's just if something seems interesting to me, I'm going to talk about it.”

Over time, Elias noticed his perspective came from a more mature and intelligent view than many others, but he doesn’t want to develop hubris.

“The looming threat of arrogance has always been an extremely big problem for me,” he said. “Recently, I've done some things that have left people impressed. That's great. It's for my self-image, for my self-respect that is always going to be a win. But I am also constantly trying to compare myself to who is better. I do not recommend only thinking about who is better. You also need to compare certain aspects, certain circumstances.”

Elias said people are typically impressed with academic achievements.

“As a teenager, people will be most impressed by academic achievements without a doubt,” he said. “When I won the national Spanish Olympics, my family was left speechless, and some even said it was my first groundbreaking achievement, besides getting good GPAs.”

Elias recites Chilean poetry at school.

However, Elias cites other steps individuals can take that have a bigger impact.

“Some of my greatest achievements have been things that will stack long term, like starting the YouTube channel, exercising, cleaning up my diet, becoming more extroverted or being possessed by the desire to improve,” he said. “Academic achievements are impressive in the short term, but long term you need to invest in yourself with something more ambitious and maybe even incomprehensible for other people.” 

Elias said one can aspire to be successful.

“If you're 14 and compare yourself to Warren Buffett from a financial perspective, Warren Buffett was a madman, and now he's 90-something,” he said. “Of course, he's going to be richer than you if he devoted all of his life to that. I was aware that I was smart, and I'm still aware of it, but I'm still trying to punch up and not punch down. My videos are certainly trying to do that.”

Elias doesn’t view himself as superior to those watching his videos.

“Sometimes, I even consider I'm speaking from a lower position than the viewer, that maybe the viewer knows better,” he said. “Most of the time, it's equal. But I try to keep that intellectual snobbery to a minimum because looking down on your viewer is never going to help me. I think I'm smart, but I'm certainly not the smartest teenager, the smartest human alive and will never wish to be. Everybody needs to accept that at one point or another.”

Elias started the channel to express his ideas.

“My channel started from some existential frustration,” he said. “I felt as if I needed to do something with all of the ideas that were in my head. I needed to do something that made me feel as if I'm moving forward. And what easier, more motivating method than social media.”

Elias following his Spanish Olympics win.

Elias grew more comfortable being in front of the camera over time.

“At the start, it was pretty careless because the goal was just to do it and just record something and put it out there,” he said. “With that carelessness and actually transforming it into a bit of apathy towards the well-known fear of being on camera helped me not be that fearful of being on camera. Sometimes, I mumble and I need to press the stop record button in order to stop because sometimes I'm just mumbling and I improvise badly. Trepidation whilst being in front of the camera is a common problem, but you grow to love the camera's lens over time.”

Elias’ confidence grew over time.

“I love my accent in every single language,” he said. “I love how I present myself to the world. When I'm in public, I really like being energetic and being the center of attention, not as if I yearn for it, but being the center of attention isn't something that's uncomfortable for me. Social interaction gives me energy, doesn't take energy away from me. But naturally, if you're trying to improve, if you're a functional human being, your confidence should only go up with your age.”

Elias plans to be an entrepreneur or undertake some other creative endeavor rather than become an office drone.

“I really love the social sciences,” he said. “Things like psychology, philosophy, sociology, sciences that can be applied to everyday life. I definitely do not want to go into the rat race, the 9-to-5 like it's called by gurus. I don't want to have a normal job. I want to do something like a business or something more creative and liberating, maybe with a friend or someone that I know we can build it up together. Definitely something that allows me to speak, talk about the things that I'm passionate about and gives me some financial liberty, some liberty with my time.” 

Elias said he’s become better at expressing himself.

“It has probably developed by just rigorous repeating and doing the same thing,” he said. “I'm not an extremely big YouTube channel, but I have posted a lot. I have recorded a lot. I have practiced speaking in front of a camera a lot. Seeing your own reflection whilst you're speaking is probably the best thing you can do for public speaking in general. I have definitely become better this past year by just recording myself. But I've never been completely inept either. I have always had an ability to say what I want, but now I think I'm a little bit better.”

Elias stressed the importance of being genuine, but impartial.

“Authenticity can be tricky because to ultimately be an interesting human being who has something to say, you need to be influenced and inspired by a lot of external sources, which means that in the end, you will be a combination of everything that you consumed and internalized,” he said. “With all that being said, I certainly know that when I started out, I was vomiting out other people's opinions without displaying a lot of my personality and still see others doing the same thing.”

Elias said content creators must exhibit confidence when speaking.

“Putting on an act is pretty crucial because it allows the creator to be more objective,” he said. “If they were in tune only with their real self, a lot of personal defects and insecurities would stop them from preaching that which is undeniably true.” 

Elias stays motivated by having a purpose.

“Life is about creating your own meaning,” he said. “You need to create your own stress and conditions and deadlines in order to actually have a meaning, because if it's imposed upon you, nobody is going to enjoy that, meaning you need to do it for yourself because you love it. And the YouTube channel is just another way of manifesting that. Whilst you keep going, you'll always be winning. You don't need to hit that certain milestone in order to win. Whilst you keep doing it for an infinite amount of time, you've won no matter the result.”

Elias advised aspiring Youtubers to just start making content.

“Just post whatever,” he said. “Post a review of your local supermarket, post a review of the last book you've read about, the last movie that you've watched. It doesn't matter, just post, get it started. And if five years along the journey, you are extremely ashamed of your first videos, delete them and recycle the idea if you want. Be aware that it is going to take a lot of time to actually get to where you want to get.”

Elias’ content started as self-improvement.

“At the start it really was just traditional-self improvement,” he said. “My content has changed a lot with my reading as well. For example, the manifesto for self-improvement, for social skills is Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. I read this, I recycled all of the ideas, put them onto YouTube, put my own twist on them. But once I actually got into more highbrow literature, I started thinking for myself. I got new ideas.”

Elias touring Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Elias said the key to never running out of content is examining the broader scope.

“If you only talk about going to the gym, abstaining from sugar, you're going to run out of ideas pretty fast,” he said. “But if you really get into the fiber, into the core of the human condition, you're willing to get thousands and thousands of ideas that you didn't even know existed in the first place. It is self-improvement, but a bit more sophisticated. It’s about how to adopt a mentality that guides your everyday life.”

Elias dispensed advice to those wishing to start self-improvement.

“Realize that it's a never-ending journey,” he said. “The goal with self-improvement, it's perfection. And perfection is the goal that is never going to be reached. You're always going to have a sweet tooth. You're always going to feel as if you need to eat a cookie or whatever. You're always going to feel demotivated to go on a run. On some days, that lack of motivation is going to be enough to convince you to go back to bed.”

Elias said people should strive to be better.

“Assume a bit of responsibility, because you know that you will never be completely perfect, but you should still aim to be perfect,” he said. “Because whilst you aim to be perfect, you go and you improve and improve and improve endlessly until you get closer and closer to perfection. Of course, optimize your health. The three pillars of health are diet, exercise, sleep. Also, read some good books.”

Elias said the key is to keep moving forward.

“Just adopt as a general philosophy that every single day you want to be better than the last day,” he said. “That's some general improvement. The more you dig in self-improvement, you'll find your own tips. As Mark Manson says, if you don't like the clothes, take them off and try new ones.”

Elias’ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Eli15201

Elias’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pisotsavaelias

Elias’ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pisot.elias?_t=8mV0haL08cy&_r=1