making youtube fun again (for me)
this is how i've been using youtube the past few months.
- i allow the algorithm to happen to me. i scroll through my youtube homepage and look at thumbnails and titles, mostly clickbait, sometimes an obscure music compilation with less than 1,000 views.
- when a video looks like something i might want to watch, i click on the three dots to the right of the video title and channel name. i save the video to one of two playlists:
- quick watches for videos running fewer than 11 minutes
- longform for videos running longer than 11 minutes
- i don't watch the videos immediately. i just keep the two lists growing for a few days, sometimes weeks.
- when i'm finally in the mood to watch youtube videos, or i'm looking for something to play while i do my workouts or the dishes, i look through the playlists and only watch what i previously put in them. i don't look at the youtube homepage anymore. if the sink is full of dishes or it's a new and long home workout i'm trying out, i look for something in longform. if it's a quick chore, i go to quick watches.
- when i'm too lazy to categorize videos, i sneak them into my default watch later playlist. i try to empty out this watch later playlist weekly as best as i can, by either watching the videos or splitting them into either quick watches or longform.
i wish i had a good explanation for why the playlists hinge on 11 minutes. i just find that most chores and things i do that make me want to watch stuff on youtube usually take under 11 minutes or it just keeps going and going and going, beyond 11 minutes.
maybe this is a bit about delaying gratification, but it's also about wanting to be more intentional when watching things on youtube. i guess it's just become a habit i don't exactly want to quit, because i enjoy the visual medium but don't always have the time to watch feature-length movies.
i don't want to stop watching stuff on youtube because sometimes there is good stuff and funny stuff and inspiring stuff and really cool fucking stuff. i just wanted to make it a more intentional activity for me.
currently, i have 14 videos in quick watches and 47 videos in longform. some days i'm on youtube a bit and get to watch a couple longform videos and some quick watches. some days i watch movies or television shows with g, and so i'm not on youtube so much. and that's fine too. the videos i want to see are still going to be in my playlists, and i'm not going to lose them to the algorithm.