5 ms·

The best way I’ve found to spend less time on YouTube is realizing that the vast majority of content is pure garbage and just stay the hell away from it. These

The best way I’ve found to spend less time on YouTube is realizing that the vast majority of content is pure garbage and just stay the hell away from it. These days I only visit it when I need something specific (a tutorial on how to do a particular thing, a video the kid wants to watch, etc). And of course uBlock origin is enabled to spare me from the “unskippable ads that are longer than the video itself” experience.

whalesalad 5y ago
The bar is certainly lower. Lots of stuff that amounts to a PowerPoint presentation full of stock art/video with poor narration.
Enginerrrd 5y ago
Yeah it's exceedingly rare that better, more parseable information isn't available in text somewhere. Unfortunately though, it is becoming more common for people to make a video instead of a well written tutorial or guide or better documentation.
Nextgrid 5y ago
My strategy is to have a curated list of subscriptions (in an RSS reader - I don't have a Google account) and just stick to those. I very rarely explore outside of that exactly for the reason you mention.
sabjut 5y ago
While I agree that "the vast majority of content is pure garbage", I have to make an argument that a non-negligible portion of the site delivers high-quality educational videos with excellent research. The curiosity-seeking part of my brain is subject to being very easy to get hooked on this.
scrollaway 5y ago
YouTube has some of the best, highest quality free content available on the internet today. Stay away from the crap, remove it from your recommendations, subscribe to some good channels. It’s that simple. Don’t if that’s not your thing but you’re missing out. If you change your mind here are a few exceptional channels to get you started, they should cater well to a HN style audience: Technology Connections (misc tech) Wendover Productions (Logistics) DefunctLand (Documentaries on old defunct stuff) Not Just Bikes (Cycling, public transport, urban design, walkability) Practical Engineering (civil engineering) 3Blue1Brown (Math)
- krallja 5y ago
  Some of my highly recommended uncommon subscriptions: Cathode Ray Dude (really obscure 90s tech nostalgia) Techmoan (obscure old tech nostalgia) Jeremy Fielding (engineering) Hand Tool Rescue (antique restoration) Machine Thinking (history of technology/industry, especially pre-1900) Usagi Electric (vacuum tubes, minicomputers, etc.)
  - SenHeng 5y ago
    Jeremy Fielding has a video series showing how he built an 6 motor Industrial Robot Arm from scratch. Includes welding and machining aluminum, electrical wiring and programming the controls for the motors. Definitely worth a watch. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4njCTv7IRbyf3XfhUcp_jnkRrAu1UP3I https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4njCTv7IRbyf3XfhUcp_...
  - MrGilbert 5y ago
    +1 on Techmoan and Hand Tool Rescue I'd also like to throw - My Mate Vince (Tries to fix electronics, older toys etc) - Wristwatch Revival (Very long, very well narrated watch repair videos) in the ring.
- mkaic 5y ago
  I'd also add: Tom Scott (basically the human version of Atlas Obscura) SmarterEveryDay (Former missile flight test engineer who does deep dives into science topics he's curious about) ThinMatrix (indie game developer who's building a custom game engine and game from the ground up) Adam Neely (music theory) Jan Misali (linguistics and obscura) Numberphile (math) PBS SpaceTime (physics) Simone Giertz (engineering) Journey to the Microcosmos (microbiology) Cody's Lab (all sorts of stuff, but he's currently in the multi-year process of building his own freaking Mars habitat) Ian Hubert (indie filmmaker who creates better work than most of hollywood, including absolutely massive CGI projects)
- cwkoss 5y ago
  Kirsten Dirksen (tiny houses and alternative architecture) https://www.youtube.com/user/kirstendirksen/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/kirstendirksen/videos Matthias Wandel (wookworking) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCckETVOT59aYw80B36aP9vw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCckETVOT59aYw80B36aP9vw
redthrow 5y ago
I find that uBlock Origin (or Brave) isn't enough for YouTube. If you use Piped [0] you can only watch the updates from channels you are subscribed to without ads, intro, sponsors/promo etc. [0] https://piped.kavin.rocks https://piped.kavin.rocks
- celsoazevedo 5y ago
  That site is using Sponsor Block: https://sponsor.ajay.app/ https://sponsor.ajay.app/
  - avhon1 5y ago
    ...which, for those not familiar, is available as a browser extension. It crowdsources timestamps for non-necessary parts of youtube videos, and can automatically fetch those timestamps and skip over them in videos you're watching.
    - redthrow 5y ago
      ...and since Piped a webapp with account signups, it works on mobile browser as well without any extensions and you can manage channel subscriptions as well.

whalesalad 5y ago

The bar is certainly lower. Lots of stuff that amounts to a PowerPoint presentation full of stock art/video with poor narration.

Enginerrrd 5y ago

Yeah it's exceedingly rare that better, more parseable information isn't available in text somewhere. Unfortunately though, it is becoming more common for people to make a video instead of a well written tutorial or guide or better documentation.

Nextgrid 5y ago

My strategy is to have a curated list of subscriptions (in an RSS reader - I don't have a Google account) and just stick to those. I very rarely explore outside of that exactly for the reason you mention.

sabjut 5y ago

While I agree that "the vast majority of content is pure garbage", I have to make an argument that a non-negligible portion of the site delivers high-quality educational videos with excellent research. The curiosity-seeking part of my brain is subject to being very easy to get hooked on this.

scrollaway 5y ago

YouTube has some of the best, highest quality free content available on the internet today. Stay away from the crap, remove it from your recommendations, subscribe to some good channels. It’s that simple. Don’t if that’s not your thing but you’re missing out. If you change your mind here are a few exceptional channels to get you started, they should cater well to a HN style audience: Technology Connections (misc tech) Wendover Productions (Logistics) DefunctLand (Documentaries on old defunct stuff) Not Just Bikes (Cycling, public transport, urban design, walkability) Practical Engineering (civil engineering) 3Blue1Brown (Math)

krallja 5y ago
Some of my highly recommended uncommon subscriptions: Cathode Ray Dude (really obscure 90s tech nostalgia) Techmoan (obscure old tech nostalgia) Jeremy Fielding (engineering) Hand Tool Rescue (antique restoration) Machine Thinking (history of technology/industry, especially pre-1900) Usagi Electric (vacuum tubes, minicomputers, etc.)
- SenHeng 5y ago
  Jeremy Fielding has a video series showing how he built an 6 motor Industrial Robot Arm from scratch. Includes welding and machining aluminum, electrical wiring and programming the controls for the motors. Definitely worth a watch. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4njCTv7IRbyf3XfhUcp_jnkRrAu1UP3I https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4njCTv7IRbyf3XfhUcp_...
- MrGilbert 5y ago
  +1 on Techmoan and Hand Tool Rescue I'd also like to throw - My Mate Vince (Tries to fix electronics, older toys etc) - Wristwatch Revival (Very long, very well narrated watch repair videos) in the ring.
mkaic 5y ago
I'd also add: Tom Scott (basically the human version of Atlas Obscura) SmarterEveryDay (Former missile flight test engineer who does deep dives into science topics he's curious about) ThinMatrix (indie game developer who's building a custom game engine and game from the ground up) Adam Neely (music theory) Jan Misali (linguistics and obscura) Numberphile (math) PBS SpaceTime (physics) Simone Giertz (engineering) Journey to the Microcosmos (microbiology) Cody's Lab (all sorts of stuff, but he's currently in the multi-year process of building his own freaking Mars habitat) Ian Hubert (indie filmmaker who creates better work than most of hollywood, including absolutely massive CGI projects)
cwkoss 5y ago
Kirsten Dirksen (tiny houses and alternative architecture) https://www.youtube.com/user/kirstendirksen/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/kirstendirksen/videos Matthias Wandel (wookworking) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCckETVOT59aYw80B36aP9vw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCckETVOT59aYw80B36aP9vw

redthrow 5y ago

I find that uBlock Origin (or Brave) isn't enough for YouTube. If you use Piped [0] you can only watch the updates from channels you are subscribed to without ads, intro, sponsors/promo etc. [0] https://piped.kavin.rocks https://piped.kavin.rocks

celsoazevedo 5y ago
That site is using Sponsor Block: https://sponsor.ajay.app/ https://sponsor.ajay.app/
- avhon1 5y ago
  ...which, for those not familiar, is available as a browser extension. It crowdsources timestamps for non-necessary parts of youtube videos, and can automatically fetch those timestamps and skip over them in videos you're watching.
  - redthrow 5y ago
    ...and since Piped a webapp with account signups, it works on mobile browser as well without any extensions and you can manage channel subscriptions as well.