Youtube and similar platforms were preceded by cable, broadcast television, newspaper, radio, rental media, and books. Presumably if any of those had suddenly

Youtube and similar platforms were preceded by cable, broadcast television, newspaper, radio, rental media, and books. Presumably if any of those had suddenly disappeared people would similarly feel lost without them, but as time goes on it becomes possible to replace or augment the older technologies without missing them or getting rid of them entirely. Probably youtube will be the same. Hopefully archivists can rescue all the content before its eventual demise.