I’ve noticed YouTube specifically has become more addictive, I never used to be one to sit and scroll for long durations before but I often catch myself spending way too long on shorts now
Even people or older generations seem to be getting sucked in nowadays
No, not at all. And there are more tools than ever to monitor, track, and notify high usage.
PEBKAC or whatever the modern equivalent is these days.
I am using
- Mull + adblock
- greyjay
- jerboah
- several Discuss webapps
- internet searching
- antennapod for podcasts
This is already enough to get me addicted and its not even typical social media
Big tech writes the equivalent of digital heroin.
The longer they can keep you on their platforms,
the more they can data-farm you,
the more data they have on you,
the more they can sell about you / earn on you.Detox yourself from your bad heroin addiction,
by switching to fair FOSS (Free Open Source Software) alternatives.E.g. Use Invidious, Grayjay or NewPipe instead of YouTube.
I downloaded freetube, is that one ok?
Have not used FreeTube myself.
However it appears to be reputable / decent.- It’s source is open: https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube
- It’s mentioned in the Invidious repo: https://github.com/iv-org/invidious#projects-using-invidious
Rule of thumb:
- Steer clear of proprietary / closed source software
- Always aim to use open source software if possible
thanks bb
It’s been the opposite, I feel like I have to put in huge amounts of effort just to find something interesting. Most of the YouTubers I follow barely post anything anymore.
shorts are designed to be addictive. just don’t use them. otherwise, the platform hasn’t changed, you have
Shorts are new-ish to the platform. Like others that saw the success of TikTok (e.g., facebook with their reels, presumably instagram has something similar) they pumped out their own version to better trap people on the platform.
Same idea as ever but more addictive than before.
I feel the exact opposite about you tube. I feel like there is nothing interesting to watch any more unless one of my follows post a new video
I feel the same way. New show on Netulumaxplus? Add it to the list, never watch it. New post from a followed YT channel? Instant watch then down the rabbit hole of related stuff. I get more out my ~$50 in Patreon subscriptions in a single month than I ever will out of the $100/month I spend on streaming services.
I’m well aware how much time I’m wasting, I’ve got a screen time monitor setup and have even gone so far as writing my own script that takes me to youareanidiot.org if I try to open YouTube before 10am but it still didn’t stop me for a good amount of time
I think I might’ve just about kicked it at this point but now I’m spending loads of time scrolling Lemmy and talking to strangers instead which I suppose is marginally better
I have the same problem with YouTube! Between work + school I don’t have free time until 930/10, so I unwind watching documentaries on YouTube and it’s 2-3am before I know it :(
I recently ordered an EReader and if books can’t replace that YouTube urge I might have to go the same route as you and redirect myself after midnight.
I give myself a pass for Lemmy though. It’s not sucking me in, rather I open the site specifically for news for sites that don’t offer RSS feeds. (RSS helps a lot with eliminating the news -> distraction scenario)
Lately I’ve been more conscious of my decisions to watch trash on you tube. You watch a few traffic cam videos and pretty soon that’s half your feed. So I’m finding myself thinking twice before clicking.
Shorts I mostly avoid because I feel that feature is toxic clickbait.
I had to get YouTube revanced to disable the shorts player for me, and then had to disable notifications. It’s a place of no return.
Strangely, the opposite for me. Recently (and I mean a couple months ago), I’ve been noticing that YouTube’s recommendation algorithm changed in some way. It’s now recommending me things that I’m not particularly interested in, or things that I would click away from more readily. I used to like educational channels (SciShow, PBS Spacetime, Deep Look, PBS Eons, etc.) and I’m noticing that these videos are almost never recommended to me anymore. I have to go to their channel to even see that they posted a video.
It seems to also be a switching task issue in our minds. These changes of states takes more effort than playing the next video does or just keeping on what we are doing. It’s so much easier for us to keep playing the digital dopamine slot machine that, TikTok, instagram reels, Facebook and YouTube short videos provide.
From a business sense they want to keep your attention, from a biology sense we are safe and don’t see a need to move with the random rewards another quick video offers.
It’s amazing how well they have refined getting and keeping our attention. We also get rewarded with dopamine from the anticipation of the next story or short video. It gets we don’t even really need the next video, just the anticipation is enough to reward us with more dopamine.
I’ve read doing a simple reverse mental countdown of 5-4-3-2-1 blast off helps us switch gears from another part of the brain. It can also help us get out of bed or off the couch.
This reminds me of “Gum’s Gotten Mintier Lately. Have You Noticed?”
This just put me off YouTube, I get that they are trying to copy Tiktok’s addictiveness but I just don’t get anything out of short-form video content.
I hadn’t noticed but I think you’re right
If you find yourself suddenly grasping for more and more time escaping reality consider seeing a psychiatrist.
You could have major depression: it was one of my symptoms.
Jesus Christ lol make a comment about social media on the internet and immediately get diagnosed with depression
It’s not a diagnosis it’s encouragement to see someone about an issue you’ve expressed.
Therapists are gonna be pretty busy then because it’s a good proportion of people I know that have been sucked into this kind of content one way or another more than they’d like
There’s definitely negative psychological effects to having a skinner box in your hand at all times.
If you find yourself randomly diagnosing strangers with depression consider seeing a psychiatrist.
If you interpret “talk to a doctor” as diagnosing someone consider seeing a dictionary
I find YouTube is less attractive than a year ago. Ads are more invasive and more difficult to remove. Recommendations skew heavily to the rage-inducing, e.g., I watched one late night comedy sketch making fun of Jordan Peterson and then my feed was full of clips of him spewing his hot trash for weeks.
I gave up on reddit earlier in the year when all the API / sub blackout / forced mod removal stuff was going on.
Freemium apps seem to be pushing ads more and more, which makes me more resistant to using them.
If what I read online is true, the days of investors throwing money at anything tech related are slowing down. Which means some companies that have never had to be profitable before now must find a way to do so. Which means tightening up subscriptions and/or more ads.
I disabled and cleared my history, now I don’t get any recommendations except the ones related to the video I’m currently watching 👍
