Today in a Privacy community a post about YouTube. No word about privacy but all about which software or settings are needed to watch videos and the money needed to host videos. It made me wonder whether some of you can lead a meaningful life without YouTube. Or will a cold turkey bring the worst out of you ?
I watch it basically all of the time but if they made it paid-only I would drop it immediately.
I probably could if i had to, that’s what i tell myself at least. For now though it’s my primary source of entertainment.
I feel as though I missed the heyday of youtube, and only really started using it within the last few years, so perhaps my perspective is a bit skewed, but I don’t really get the point of a lot of content on there. A lot of the content I consume could easily be replicated elsewhere, or in a different format. A good deal of tech content I consume would be improved, in my view, if it were just a website with an associated discussion forum for clarifying or expanding upon any points people don’t fully get. Plenty of food channels would be better if they were just a cookbook, because they waste so much time on stuff nobody cares about in order to hit a magic length for the algorithm. Most of the long form stuff I come across could just be podcasts without losing anything of value for me.
I’m entirely willing to say this may well be my “old man yells at clouds” moment, but I just don’t get the majority of youtube content. The appeal of things like Lets Plays (outside of seeing exactly how to beat a spot you’re stuck on) and Vtubers is completely alien to me. I do enjoy travel content, but I find a lot of the stuff uploaded by independent youtube creators to be pretty exploitative and don’t enjoy watching it. I don’t think BBC or Arte or the like willl disappear with youtube. I doubt I’ll miss it very much when it eventually gets killed and Google launches a worse video site one of these days.
There are a lot of long form researched videos that I like on yt. They could definitely be hosted on a different site but having stuff like those in a central location lets people find them more easily.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/F2sk_Cy9mdU
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
I kept saying “yes but”, as I read this. But then you said podcast, and I was like ooooh yeah I can do without YouTube. Just need my guys to ship their audio as a podcast.
I used to watch let’s plays as a teen because I couldn’t play the games myself… Also used to talk about some of them at school with friends so like watching a TV show I guess.
I wouldn’t really miss it all that much. I’ve always treated YouTube as a fun novelty where I can watch people’s homemade videos, but it’s almost all polished commercial grade content now, with some exceptions.
Those software and settings that make it tolerable, such as Tubular and using uBO/Sponsorblock/Firefox, are extremely easy to find and use. But I wouldn’t miss it all that much if it became unusable.
Yeah it’s undeniable that YouTube is getting difficult to get rid of. There do exist some alternatives like Vimeo or peertube, but as others say, lack of content is their biggest problem. Using alternative frontend is relying on YouTube after all, so there’s no way we can live without it, unless they do something very horrible, like what Reddit did to us.
Not for the lack of trying though. They’ve been trying to destroy alternative frontend apps for a while, but the devs just keep rolling out workarounds. You know when your app is buffering endlessly that is time to check for an update.
Vimeo is explicitly not competing with youtube
I lived 30 years without it, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to do without it. It’s fun, but not necessary.
I spend most of my free time watching YouTube. At times I wish it would go away. Even though they are a lot of valuable videos, there are also far more videos that I’m not interested in. I also don’t view YouTube with ads. I refuse. I’ll up YouTube before I watch ads.
When I inevitably move away from Google, YouTube will be the last thing that remains. I use it a lot, and there is absolutely no sufficient replacement.
YouTube is my streaming app. They have me by the throat. I could give up every other video app before I gave up YouTube. I wish it weren’t true, but it is. YouTube just has the best content.
Live? Yes. Remain sane? That’s to be determined.
Really though, I watch it for entertainment purposes 95% of the time. If YouTube were to seize to exist, I’d probably find an alternative or stick to streaming services like Twitch.
Not to detract from your point, but the word you’re looking for is cease. Seize is to forcibly obtain something, like “seizing the means of production.”
Yeah, you right.
Just a small correction (hope you don’t hate me), but it should be “cease”, not “seize” in your sentence.
I dont feel YouTube has much to offer. I actually really dont like finding advice in video format. Id much rather have it as a post somewhere.
Entertainment wise i never use YouTube.
I barely use YouTube in the first place
It means that’s where the fascist trash hangs out.
Thank you for watering down words. If real fascist shows up. No one will believe you. Because people cried wolf one too many times.
They fit the definition exactly, what else would you possibly call them?
I don’t get the appeal of YouTube. I use it for maybe the odd music video or something, but often you’ll just get someone’s annoying commentary instead of the actual thing.
I live without it and it’s great! Try it.
Yeah. It would suck, but I’ll make it.
I guess I know where the good stuff is in the trash heap? I’ve been a user of Youtube since before Google bought it, and…I think the algorithm just has so much data on me that I don’t see a lot of the swill newcomers will. I do believe the platform is enshittifying from several different directions though, particularly from Alphabet.
