Claire Murashima's "day in the life" videos start like any other. She introduces herself with her name (Claire), age (24), career (journalist), and city (Washington, DC). But there's a twist that can draw even the most disinterested viewer in: She's nocturnal.

Instead of starting her videos in the 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. range when most people start their days, and vlogs, she begins her day anywhere from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Watching her videos, we get to be voyeurs of a schedule entirely unlike our own. Her unusual lifestyle brings a much-needed sense of novelty to the tired "day in the life" genre.

Murashima isn't always nocturnal; it depends which shift she's been assigned as a producer at NPR. But when she is, the views pour in. She started posting about her life as a semi-nocturnal journalist on TikTok a little over a year ago to show the internet how wacky her work schedule is and to get some validation for doing it. Now she has just shy of 27,000 followers and over a million likes.

In an interview with Mashable, Murashima chatted about "day in the life" videos as escapism, how vlogging alters her experience of a day, and how she balances her reputation as a journalist with content creation.

Mashable: Did your "day in the life" videos immediately start catching on?

[My first video] didn't get a ton of attention beyond people who work at NPR and have similar interests to me. [My videos] started going viral during my first round of overnight shifts last fall. I worked a midnight to 8 a.m. shift for many weeks and made videos. It's so unusual to work those hours for the majority of people. I wanted to share what life was like, because I had no idea when I would sleep or go grocery shopping or be social when I was nocturnal. 

The typical "day in the life" videos are so overdone; yours add a lot of novelty to the genre. 

You think so? I can't get enough of them. Even ones that have 10 likes and are about living in New York City or living in rural environments are very appealing to me. I love a "day in the life."

Why?

In a weird way, [these videos] allow me to live vicariously through the lives I've never lived, the vocations I never chose. At some point in my life, I could see myself going into a nonprofit environment or more corporate job. I love seeing those videos because it lets me envision what my life could be like.

Sometimes when I'm on an overnight shift, I start to want to move to the middle of Nebraska. I've never been to Nebraska, but it's just kind of like an escapism thing. So the "day in the life" is escaping in a way. 

Does vlogging change the way you experience a day?

Yes and no. I like to watch the ones from almost a year ago to see what my life was actually like, because I don't really remember it in that much detail. In other ways, it can make me less present.

I remember, I'm not proud of this, but there was an instance where I was with my friend and someone walked up to me and asked, "Oh my gosh, are you Claire Murashima?" And I was kind of stunned and just said, "Yeah," and stared at her. I remember thinking that is not how I want to respond to people. I was so distracted getting a shot with my friend that I wasn't even able to live my real life. If I'm not able to be nice to people in my real life, I don't want to make videos about my online life, that seems really disingenuous. Now I try to be more intentional and prioritize living real life first, even if I don't get a good shot.

How many days do you vlog a week?

Two to three. My goal with this shift [ed: Murashima is assigned as producer to different shifts every couple of months; right now she isn't on a show that requires overnights] is to only vlog once a week because I hate what it does to my brain. I'm always thinking about vlogging. I don't have as much space for interesting ideas or coming up with new pitches for NPR. Vlogging takes up my precious mental real estate that could be spent elsewhere.

Consistency is more interesting than trying to go viral. I'd rather have more non-viral videos than fewer videos that I try to make go viral. That's not necessarily [about] quality versus quantity. I try to make all of them high quality, but it's a relationship. 

Is that relationship with the viewer or with the algorithm? 

It's with myself in a way. I am building this view of myself that I really moved to DC. I got that job at NPR. I wanted to work here for so long, and making the videos is a triumph that I've made it in journalism after going to a small college in the Midwest, and not having a ton of connections.

Do you read a script for your videos?

I used to, but these days, no. I try to not have the audio perfectly lined up with the visual of what I'm doing, because that's boring. For the most part, I don't want to tell you that I'm brushing my teeth. I want to tell you a story about why I'm up at three in the morning.

Did vlogging help you process your night shifts?

My main processing is my journal. I share my actual thoughts and opinions in my journal. I don't share controversial opinions on TikTok. That's probably why I don't get hate, because I don't share all of myself. 

[With TikTok,] it feels good to have a project that I have complete editorial control over and is done in 30 minutes. I'm getting my reps in and learning how to improve my skills of audio visual storytelling, rather than just audio storytelling. Making decisions on my own, like having to cut things, makes me a better producer. In the past, I might go to my editor and be like, "Hey, we have this little angle, and if we exclude it, then XYZ, but if we include it, then we could talk about this other thing, which is kind of newsy and we connect it to this thing." Editing my own TikToks makes me like a ruthless editor.

It's interesting that you don't share controversial opinions on TikTok, because that's so much of TikTok.

I don't want to be a TikTok personality. I want to be the ASMR videos that you watch when you can't fall asleep.

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Is it weird for your TikTok presence to be based around your job? Or do you think you have a better creator life balance than creators who share their whole lives online?

Sometimes I feel like I'm using my job for clout, but my job is very difficult. Not everyone — even not everyone at NPR — works night shift. Working night shift makes me feel like I'm allowed to talk about it, and makes the voice in my head that says, "Shut up. You are annoying and just seeking attention," less loud.

I'm glad that I don't share my whole life on TikTok. I think [sharing everything] would lead to bullying, and social media addiction. I'm already too attached to my phone. Sometimes my colleagues will lovingly make comments like, "Oh, don't don't do whatever in front of Claire, she'll make a video of it."

How do you balance your reputation as a journalist with being a content creator?

Journalism and influencing are two different things. I'm not an influencer. I'm a content creator. The way that I define [being a content creator] is I make content, and I don't get paid for it. I don't do brand deals or sponsorship, because I want to preserve my reputation as a journalist. I wouldn't trust a journalist who is also selling products.

How does your TikTok following impact your job?

It's helped with call-outs for voice memos, but my following is not representative of America. There are so many women that follow me and so few men, so I try to do call-outs sparingly or in stories where that's a plus. I do a lot of one-to-one outreach on TikTok, and sources will say they know me. It helps because then they trust me and it's easier for them to share. 

Have you always spend a lot of time online?

Yes, and I was used to being a public person. I was student body president of my college from 2020 to 2021 during the pandemic. I did a lot of social media outreach, because we were an online community. I got used to sharing things and being transparent online. When I would make a mistake, I would make a video to address it. It was very difficult. I would share wins or things that I was uncertain about. People weren't super used to that level of transparency from an elected official, at least like at the student government level, like AOC was using social media in that way. But I wanted to do that for my school. I got used to using social media to share about what I was doing in my job, which is really similar to how I'm doing things now. 

Are there other online spaces that you spent a lot of time on now?

My all time favorite social media platform is Pinterest. It's very private, very incognito, you could probably not find me, which is how I like it. It's just calming and inspiring. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.