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I'm calling your bluff. You won't leave. YouTube is too ubiquitous and useful. Nothing else can replace it. You'll just learn to tolerate the ads, or buy YT Pr

I'm calling your bluff. You won't leave. YouTube is too ubiquitous and useful. Nothing else can replace it. You'll just learn to tolerate the ads, or buy YT Premium.

amelius 4y ago
Yeah, just wait until some HNer mentions a great talk on YT.
- ectopod 4y ago
  I download it and watch it at my leisure with no adverts. I'm not going to drop everything and watch a one hour talk right now anyway.
ericmay 4y ago
Aside from DIY videos what do people use YouTube for? Music Videos? I know the White House does some announcements and I think they're streamed on YouTube but I doubt there would be commercials there. -edit- I guess people do put up some good product reviews, but you can just read a website or the person posting the review could disable ads or something. I'm not sure YouTube is as important as people are making it out to be. It reminds me of Facebook "but how will I do X without Facebook?" Idk, you either don't do that or find an alternative. I haven't had Facebook since at least 2011 or so and I don't think I'm really missing anything. It's just FOMO.
- freedomben 4y ago
  I mainly use it for video versions of podcasts I like. I mostly just do audio only on my phone, but if I'm home I'll usually throw on the video version on youtube.
  - ericmay 4y ago
    Yea and even then do they typically have a lot (or any?) of ads in the video in addition to sponsor call outs and promos codes and such?
commandlinefan 4y ago
> YouTube is too ubiquitous and useful Is this a young person thing? At almost 50, I've found YouTube to be moderately interesting, but I probably watch something on it a few times a month and would effortlessly be able to leave it behind for the rest of my life if it became unusably annoying.
- pliftkl 4y ago
  I'm 52, and probably watch more youtube than any other content provider. However, that only started when I got premium and no longer had to deal with ads. If I had to deal with ads, my watching would drop like a rock.
- timst4 4y ago
  Yes. I am your age and feel similarly about YouTube. However, I teach young people and they have zero boundaries with technology. Worse is that their cognition has evolved with technology such as YouTube, at its core. Turning off YT would be like turning off a section of their brains.
- gregmac 4y ago
  It's very much about what (channels) you watch on it. I find the main page without being logged in is filled almost entirely with absolute garbage I have zero interest in and would never watch. The channels I follow, though, are on topics I find interesting, and generally produce quite good content. I watch YouTube when I just feel like vegging out - it's the modern substitute for "channel surfing". Very easy to find 5 to 12 minute long videos that are interesting, yet not the same commitment as a full tv series. For some hints: Smarter Every Day, CGP Gray, Not Just Bikes, Kurzgesagt, Linus Tech tips, Wendover Productions, colinfurze, Rick Beato, 8bit guy, SciShow.. If you don't veg out in front of the tv anyway, there's no no point of doing it front of YouTube. But if you do, it sure beats watching the last half of a rerun of some random sitcom you've seen a million times.
WastingMyTime89 4y ago
I stopped watching YT when they upped the numbers of ads last year. I don’t think I miss anything. I am actually thankful that Google did that. The YT algorithm is targeted towards making you waste your time. It’s addictive in the worst way possible. Content quality has been on a downward trend for years now and the introduction of shorts have made things even worse. People seem to be reusing TikTok videos a lot which are basically content devoid of actual content. What’s supposedly so ubiquitous on YT that you believe you can’t do without?
RajT88 4y ago
Replace YouTube with MySpace and see how that post reads.
JonChesterfield 4y ago
What useful things are on YouTube? I'd miss some conference videos but they're probably hosted elsewhere.
version_five 4y ago
YouTube for me is in the category of online content that I value at zero. Same for many articles from random sources I come across. This doesn't mean I don't look at them, but it means that if I have to do anything - like signup, or even accept cookies, I generally just move on.
dsego 4y ago
New alternatives seem to be cropping up lately, I found odysee delightful to use, the ui is nice and snappy and there is plenty of content to choose from. https://odysee.com/ https://odysee.com/
kadoban 4y ago
I already pay for yt premium. I don't dislike paying for content, I dislike ads. And no, I'm serious about being out if they add ads, I _really_ dislike ads and I've already abandoned several services by now for this reason.

I'm calling your bluff. You won't leave. YouTube is too ubiquitous and useful. Nothing else can replace it. You'll just learn to tolerate the ads, or buy YT Premium.

amelius 4y ago

Yeah, just wait until some HNer mentions a great talk on YT.

ectopod 4y ago
I download it and watch it at my leisure with no adverts. I'm not going to drop everything and watch a one hour talk right now anyway.

ericmay 4y ago

Aside from DIY videos what do people use YouTube for? Music Videos? I know the White House does some announcements and I think they're streamed on YouTube but I doubt there would be commercials there. -edit- I guess people do put up some good product reviews, but you can just read a website or the person posting the review could disable ads or something. I'm not sure YouTube is as important as people are making it out to be. It reminds me of Facebook "but how will I do X without Facebook?" Idk, you either don't do that or find an alternative. I haven't had Facebook since at least 2011 or so and I don't think I'm really missing anything. It's just FOMO.

freedomben 4y ago
I mainly use it for video versions of podcasts I like. I mostly just do audio only on my phone, but if I'm home I'll usually throw on the video version on youtube.
- ericmay 4y ago
  Yea and even then do they typically have a lot (or any?) of ads in the video in addition to sponsor call outs and promos codes and such?

commandlinefan 4y ago

> YouTube is too ubiquitous and useful Is this a young person thing? At almost 50, I've found YouTube to be moderately interesting, but I probably watch something on it a few times a month and would effortlessly be able to leave it behind for the rest of my life if it became unusably annoying.

pliftkl 4y ago
I'm 52, and probably watch more youtube than any other content provider. However, that only started when I got premium and no longer had to deal with ads. If I had to deal with ads, my watching would drop like a rock.
timst4 4y ago
Yes. I am your age and feel similarly about YouTube. However, I teach young people and they have zero boundaries with technology. Worse is that their cognition has evolved with technology such as YouTube, at its core. Turning off YT would be like turning off a section of their brains.
gregmac 4y ago
It's very much about what (channels) you watch on it. I find the main page without being logged in is filled almost entirely with absolute garbage I have zero interest in and would never watch. The channels I follow, though, are on topics I find interesting, and generally produce quite good content. I watch YouTube when I just feel like vegging out - it's the modern substitute for "channel surfing". Very easy to find 5 to 12 minute long videos that are interesting, yet not the same commitment as a full tv series. For some hints: Smarter Every Day, CGP Gray, Not Just Bikes, Kurzgesagt, Linus Tech tips, Wendover Productions, colinfurze, Rick Beato, 8bit guy, SciShow.. If you don't veg out in front of the tv anyway, there's no no point of doing it front of YouTube. But if you do, it sure beats watching the last half of a rerun of some random sitcom you've seen a million times.

WastingMyTime89 4y ago

I stopped watching YT when they upped the numbers of ads last year. I don’t think I miss anything. I am actually thankful that Google did that. The YT algorithm is targeted towards making you waste your time. It’s addictive in the worst way possible. Content quality has been on a downward trend for years now and the introduction of shorts have made things even worse. People seem to be reusing TikTok videos a lot which are basically content devoid of actual content. What’s supposedly so ubiquitous on YT that you believe you can’t do without?

RajT88 4y ago

Replace YouTube with MySpace and see how that post reads.

JonChesterfield 4y ago

What useful things are on YouTube? I'd miss some conference videos but they're probably hosted elsewhere.

version_five 4y ago

YouTube for me is in the category of online content that I value at zero. Same for many articles from random sources I come across. This doesn't mean I don't look at them, but it means that if I have to do anything - like signup, or even accept cookies, I generally just move on.

dsego 4y ago

New alternatives seem to be cropping up lately, I found odysee delightful to use, the ui is nice and snappy and there is plenty of content to choose from. https://odysee.com/ https://odysee.com/

kadoban 4y ago

I already pay for yt premium. I don't dislike paying for content, I dislike ads. And no, I'm serious about being out if they add ads, I _really_ dislike ads and I've already abandoned several services by now for this reason.