Youtube is also pretty boring though. I mean, there are ton of interesting content and quality content too, but the stuff that gets recommended, the "hype stuff" is full of false information, clickbait, tweaked reality to conform some narrative...
YouTube is as good as you make it. If you watch a lot of a type of content, it does a great job at finding similar content, including relevant things that you didn't know existed. If you just watch random popular stuff, then yeah, it's pretty trashy.
Unfortunately, it'll pick up recommendations from watching one thing one time, so watching that one video your weird uncle sent you is enough to pollute your algorithm with his weirdo shit.
Unfortunately, it'll pick up recommendations from watching one thing one time, so watching that one video your weird uncle sent you is enough to pollute your algorithm with his weirdo shit.
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Yes but you have to go and do that. GP was making it sound like GGP was watching crazy uncle videos to make the algorithm do that, when in reality, one errant click will pollute your suggestions unless you know to go and delete it.
New prank on someone that left their laptop unlocked. Open YouTube to something they hate and then close it before they get back.
You do need to take care in pruning videos you don't normally watch. Either remove from watch history, mark as not interested, or just thumbs downing the video.
But at least you still have that ability compared to most platforms.
You can still thumbs down a video. You don't get any feedback nor metrics from it, but you can still do it.
I haven't paid close attention to the effects, because I don't thumbs down too many videos. But it did feel like I generally don't get that channel as much after thumbing down a video from my recommended feed.
What I do is keep history off and just keep up with my subscriptions. That way, no recommendations. No junk. No "home" page on the site either, but I am willing to pay that price.
I highly recommend using the "Not interested" button on anything you don't want to see. It's actually pretty effective at pruning unwanted things from your recommendations. If I get anything political or slop related, it gets the not interested button.
I also have a second channel for language learning where I used it to prune out any videos in English. It's not perfect and recommends a few still, but they get more rare as time passes.
I don't know about everyone else's experience but I find Youtube to be pretty good at finding interesting content, especially for music. Curation is necessary but it does work.
Interesting. One of my many many complaints with YTMusic is that it does discovery very poorly. It fills any radio/discovery queue with one or two new songs followed by all the songs already on my playlists.
Other big complaints include no ability to prevent it from substantially using my cell data despite telling it to do everything over wifi. I've taken to just removing network permissions from the app unless I want to add something.
IMO you don’t need curation/algo - you need social network effect where you follow people who repost similar content you like. Your graph grows and if you don’t like something - cut them off. This is how soundcloud works.
Works fine for me recommending interesting educational and edutainment content.
I'm quite aggressively removing videos I don't like from my watch history, or flag "don't recommend" channels I know won't be for me. If I'm not careful it'll recommend crap for a while.
On the internet before YouTube existed, I remember there were no "recommendations" by default. Methods for finding "similar" content existed and were being improved, but it was not assumed that _every_ computer user was _always_ seeking "recommendations", i.e., recommendations by default
One problem with an internet where people expect, accept and rely on "recommendations" from so-called "tech" companies is that it ignores and disincentivises people who know how to search and find good stuff. Often these people want to tell others about, and share, what they find. Before so-called "tech" companies existed, these people could be excellent sources of recommendations. IMHO, they still are
Other HN comments have suggested recommendations should be an exception to Section 230 (cf. publishing user-generated content without commercially-motivated favoritism)
YouTube Premium is the best ~~$11.99~~ ~~$13.00~~ $15.17 I spend per month...
I actually don't care that much about YouTube content and it's not a place I go and hang out, but I'll pay just about anything to avoid seeing ads. Yes, I know ad blockers exist, but getting them to work on laptop, phone, Apple TV directly, Apple TV via casting, etc is not easy or even possible in some cases. If I had to guess I watch ~1hr of YouTube a week, if I watch more than that I'm watching longer-form content, but mostly it's because everyone hosts their videos there so the 3-7min here and there add up to ~1hr (tutorials, product launch, help/documentation video, etc). As much as it pains me to fork over $15+/mo for that, I hate being interrupted by ads more.
More channels are fighting for attention though, so finding more channels are "creating buzz" or "news" based on mediocre information ie. taking things out of context and making unwarranted conclusions or blowing things out of proportions for clickbait titles.
I paid for Youtube Premium. I was still shown ads on embedded youtube videos, and it was changed so that the ads pop up so quick I can click initially and go to the youtube site (where I won't be shown the ads) before the ad starts. I switched to an ad blocker because that was so adversarial on youtube's part in order bypass the 'feature' I paid for.
These seem to be the main relevant insights from the "Adults' Media Lives" report [0] (and they are backed with some good quotes from the participants):
> Participants claimed to be streaming more and viewing less linear TV. This is part of a medium-term trend we have seen over recent years. Participants also reported more of their viewing as being on their own, with less shared/communal viewing overall.Many participants claimed to be viewing more YouTube, in particular, in the past year. For some men, YouTube is now their main (or only) form of viewing.
- p 20.
> Whilst in previous years YouTube was predominantly being used to access specialist content around users' personal interests, it now also seems to serve a broader range of viewing needs. These include “background” viewing (sometimes as a replacement for daytime TV) and videos about random, eclectic, interesting topics – serendipitous content discoveries traditionally associated with linear TV channels.
Long long time ago buddy, I ditched TV 15+ years ago, can't even remember exactly when.
I only buy large monitors and mount them on my wall.
At first I only watched selfhosted media, but last 8 years it's been more and more Youtube. I'm not too happy about it, would like to wean myself off it.
I'm speaking from my own perspective here but scripted media is something I only watch socially, if my partner wants to watch with me. And I end up on my computer trying to type softly next to them.
All scripted media just seems so predictable now, I'm like Stan in that one South Park episode lol.
It also seems manipulative. I can see how a lot of shows just milk the story for more episodes until they can't milk it anymore. It doesn't seem genuine anymore, maybe it never was? Ratings have always existed, in my lifetime.
But the point is that the only newly produced content I watch is just regular people. One example is Antiques Roadshow, it's boring, maybe even "slow" TV, but it's real people. I much prefer watching real people than characters.
Something that really bugs me now is live action characters, I'd actually prefer cartoon characters. Because everything is so unreal and over the top, it might as well be a cartoon.
Youtube charges $10 per month and doesn't produce a single video. It's an amazing money maker for them and the only media subscription i pay for (to avoid ads on TVs). They should quit it with the Shorts though, nobody likes those
The thing is very simple: when watching TV I need to adjust my schedule to the shows I'd like to watch. With youtube (or any streaming platform), I can see them whenever I want, the platform adapts to my schedule.
Of course there are some exceptions, for example when I want to watch my national football team, I'd like to watch it live. Luckily, that won't be a problem anymore this year (Italy).
I noticed this about my Dad, he's 66. Growing up he was always in front of the TV watching whatever show was on. Today he's never there, now he's always in front of his iPad watching YouTube, watching videos of tractors excavating things.
I consume a probably unhealthy amount of YouTube and have for years now. I’ve had Premium since the beginning (still only paying $7.99 a month). At least there’s studies that show directed consumption that I do when I manually search and find stuff to watch is less harmful than the idle scrolling for shorts that you get on TikTok and YouTube shorts.
this are not congruent, you are shown way more AI slop in YT than TV, where it is growing - but still no match. If anything, AI fatigue must be making people spend less time on the web. The write-up in the article itself is contradicting this title. Bad title.
Because you can't get doomlooped into right-wing podcasts and "citizen journalism" on the TV.
Sample quotes from men in the study:
"Who tells me what's right and what's wrong... is it true or is it not true?
Some of the things on YouTube are independent. I find I would listen to
them more, because they're on the ground. They're telling you the story. "
"If you see something on social media, whether you believe it or not, you
can go to the comments and see everyone's points… If most people agree
with it, you know you should be at least somewhat agreeing with it. "
"It seems to everyone that it's an agenda, like the government's behind
an agenda… it's like a brainwashing tool for the government. An illegal
immigrant killed someone in the street the other day, stabbed them to
death… And it's all over Facebook, all over YouTube. And the news
hasn’t even said anything about it"
Only one man mentioned using YouTube for entertainment.
There's a lot of AI slop on YouTube unfortunately. But with YT Premium (or adblockers) I can't think of a better platform currently for finding distraction free content focused on your interests.
I kinda start to feel a but opposite. I’m 20 years off TV this year. But youtube is full of misinformation and garbage while TV is somewhat vetted form of information.
Ofcom emitting anti-social media statements shouldn't surprise anyone at this point. There is an ongoing EU-wide war against uncensored communication channels in the form of chat control, age verification, and anti anonymity. All to Protect The Children, of course.
128 comments
>
Unfortunately, it'll pick up recommendations from watching one thing one time, so watching that one video your weird uncle sent you is enough to pollute your algorithm with his weirdo shit.* Copy URL
* Open new private window
* Paste URL: trim pp and/or si parameters, which are a form of tracking
New prank on someone that left their laptop unlocked. Open YouTube to something they hate and then close it before they get back.
But at least you still have that ability compared to most platforms.
I haven't paid close attention to the effects, because I don't thumbs down too many videos. But it did feel like I generally don't get that channel as much after thumbing down a video from my recommended feed.
I also have a second channel for language learning where I used it to prune out any videos in English. It's not perfect and recommends a few still, but they get more rare as time passes.
Other big complaints include no ability to prevent it from substantially using my cell data despite telling it to do everything over wifi. I've taken to just removing network permissions from the app unless I want to add something.
I'm quite aggressively removing videos I don't like from my watch history, or flag "don't recommend" channels I know won't be for me. If I'm not careful it'll recommend crap for a while.
One problem with an internet where people expect, accept and rely on "recommendations" from so-called "tech" companies is that it ignores and disincentivises people who know how to search and find good stuff. Often these people want to tell others about, and share, what they find. Before so-called "tech" companies existed, these people could be excellent sources of recommendations. IMHO, they still are
Other HN comments have suggested recommendations should be an exception to Section 230 (cf. publishing user-generated content without commercially-motivated favoritism)
I actually don't care that much about YouTube content and it's not a place I go and hang out, but I'll pay just about anything to avoid seeing ads. Yes, I know ad blockers exist, but getting them to work on laptop, phone, Apple TV directly, Apple TV via casting, etc is not easy or even possible in some cases. If I had to guess I watch ~1hr of YouTube a week, if I watch more than that I'm watching longer-form content, but mostly it's because everyone hosts their videos there so the 3-7min here and there add up to ~1hr (tutorials, product launch, help/documentation video, etc). As much as it pains me to fork over $15+/mo for that, I hate being interrupted by ads more.
"This changes everything!!"
Getting youtube fatigue.
They totally made the free experience miserable as shit like airlines do for coach class.
> Participants claimed to be streaming more and viewing less linear TV. This is part of a medium-term trend we have seen over recent years. Participants also reported more of their viewing as being on their own, with less shared/communal viewing overall.Many participants claimed to be viewing more YouTube, in particular, in the past year. For some men, YouTube is now their main (or only) form of viewing.
- p 20.
> Whilst in previous years YouTube was predominantly being used to access specialist content around users' personal interests, it now also seems to serve a broader range of viewing needs. These include “background” viewing (sometimes as a replacement for daytime TV) and videos about random, eclectic, interesting topics – serendipitous content discoveries traditionally associated with linear TV channels.
- p 21.
[0] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/rese...
I only buy large monitors and mount them on my wall.
At first I only watched selfhosted media, but last 8 years it's been more and more Youtube. I'm not too happy about it, would like to wean myself off it.
I'm speaking from my own perspective here but scripted media is something I only watch socially, if my partner wants to watch with me. And I end up on my computer trying to type softly next to them.
All scripted media just seems so predictable now, I'm like Stan in that one South Park episode lol.
It also seems manipulative. I can see how a lot of shows just milk the story for more episodes until they can't milk it anymore. It doesn't seem genuine anymore, maybe it never was? Ratings have always existed, in my lifetime.
But the point is that the only newly produced content I watch is just regular people. One example is Antiques Roadshow, it's boring, maybe even "slow" TV, but it's real people. I much prefer watching real people than characters.
Something that really bugs me now is live action characters, I'd actually prefer cartoon characters. Because everything is so unreal and over the top, it might as well be a cartoon.
Of course there are some exceptions, for example when I want to watch my national football team, I'd like to watch it live. Luckily, that won't be a problem anymore this year (Italy).
> Men are ditching TV for YouTube
this, and
> as AI usage and social media fatigue grow
this are not congruent, you are shown way more AI slop in YT than TV, where it is growing - but still no match. If anything, AI fatigue must be making people spend less time on the web. The write-up in the article itself is contradicting this title. Bad title.
I struggle to find content I actually want to watch. It's really weird.
I can't tell if it's me, or the content, or a combination.
I think part of it is our attention span, or lack thereof.
Sample quotes from men in the study:
"Who tells me what's right and what's wrong... is it true or is it not true? Some of the things on YouTube are independent. I find I would listen to them more, because they're on the ground. They're telling you the story. "
"If you see something on social media, whether you believe it or not, you can go to the comments and see everyone's points… If most people agree with it, you know you should be at least somewhat agreeing with it. "
"It seems to everyone that it's an agenda, like the government's behind an agenda… it's like a brainwashing tool for the government. An illegal immigrant killed someone in the street the other day, stabbed them to death… And it's all over Facebook, all over YouTube. And the news hasn’t even said anything about it"
Only one man mentioned using YouTube for entertainment.
Adults are the focus here, not men.