Hank and John Green have always been great at celebrating birthdays on the internet. Whether it's each others' birthdays, the birthdays of Nerdfighters (that's how we got Esther Day, after all), or others, birthdays have always been a small yet significant element of the Vlogbrothers channel and Nerdfighteria that have made it a little bit more special.
Welcome back to Vlogbrothers Rewatch -- an ongoing series of articles in which I document my questionable journey through the entire back catalog of Vlogbrothers YouTube videos. Using this playlist, I'm making my way through everything in chronological order, one video per day, starting from the very beginning.
Do you ever find yourself wondering how people wished their acquaintances, friends, and family happy birthday before the internet? There were several primary ways of doing this. Someone either sent you a card or email (or both), they called you and maybe sang to you over the phone, or wished you a happy birthday in person, either by planning a special outing for you or coming to your birthday party.
Plenty of people still send texts or make calls, and I don't know about you, but I still get most of my birthday-related communication through Facebook. Embarrassing, I know. The internet has opened up so many more avenues for people to feel loved and celebrated on their special days, and I hope that never goes away. I hope that no matter how unpredictable the digital social space becomes, we still remember to say happy birthday to one another.
Everyone deserves to be celebrated on their birthday because humans deserve love and to be reminded that someone cares about them. Never forget to wish people a happy birthday online whether you know them well or not. Even that small gesture can turn someone's day around completely.