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I used to be addicted to youtube, and the most effective method I found to limiting my consumption was using an extension called Unhook. It removes all recommen

I used to be addicted to youtube, and the most effective method I found to limiting my consumption was using an extension called Unhook. It removes all recommendations and the shorts and trending tabs, so the only videos I can watch are those from channels I'm subscribed to, or videos that I search for.

breadchris 4y ago
i can’t believe how effective this has been for me. I’ve noticed that instead of being continually “interested” in youtube and going down the rabbit hole constantly, i actually get bored of youtube pretty quickly once i have watched all the content my subscriptions have put out. i still spend way too much time on my phone, but i guess i need to have the phone equivalent
- danuker 4y ago
  In NewPipe, you can customize the main page and disable recommendations (from "Content"). But of course Google won't let it on the Play Store. Here it is: https://newpipe.net/ https://newpipe.net/
- theteapot 4y ago
  > I actually get bored of youtube pretty quickly once i have watched all the content my subscriptions have put out. An addict in denial. Sad.
Phemist 4y ago
Some time ago, a nice fellow HN user @boriselec wrote a browser plugin for, in the end, my personal use (as barely anyone uses it), that redirects all video links to their /embed variant. /embed links are meant to be embedded in other pages and do not show any UI clutter. As it happens, they also work perfectly well if (re-)directly opened! Comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23148026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23148026 Extension here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-embed-link/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-embed...
- mythhouse 4y ago
  > This add-on is not actively monitored for security by Mozilla. Make sure you trust it before installing.
  - Phemist 4y ago
    Yeah.. but luckily the add-on is simple enough that a source-code inspection is feasible (which I did). There's nothing weird going on in the add-on, but please do your own due diligence :)
pamelafox 4y ago
This is my Youtube Unhooked extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-unhooked/fkhfakakdbjcdipdgnbfngaljiecclaf https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-unhooked/f... Not sure if thats the one you use, but it sounds like it. I need to port it to the Edge store, as I now use Edge instead of Chrome.
- pamelafox 4y ago
  Ah, looks like there's another one called simply Unhook: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/unhook-remove-youtube-rec/khncfooichmfjbepaaaebmommgaepoid https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/unhook-remove-yout...
  - suzumer 4y ago
    Yeah, that's the one i use, although i use firefox.
mackrevinack 4y ago
you can hide lots of things with ublock origin as well. these are the filters im using to hide the sidebar and shorts: ! youtube suggested videos sidebar www.youtube.com##ytd-item-section-renderer.ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer.style-scope ! youtube shorts on homepage www.youtube.com##.ytd-rich-section-renderer.style-scope > .ytd-rich-shelf-renderer.style-scope
- justnotworthit 4y ago
  i strongly recommend "Remove Youtube Suggestions" firefox addon for the ultimate youtube hider. It's even gotten so full featured you can show comments but hide names. Weird but cool.
Octabrain 4y ago
After reading your comment, I went straight to install the extension. Thank you so much!
jug 4y ago
Unhook is great even if you’re not addicted! I used it to clean all the fluff to a minimal YouTube and suddenly it felt all like before Google had bought it! :) But now I think I understand why the extension is named Unhook?
ltrojanowski 4y ago
It's one of the browser add-ons I recommend the most. Together with an add-blocker it makes youtube into a very useful tool, instead of being a time sink. Additionally it makes it much harder to fall into an unhealthy echo chamber.
procinct 4y ago
I really wish there were options like this for mobile (iPhone specifically). Most of my YouTube browsing is done on mobile or chromecasted. I go through phases of deleting the app, which works really well, but then I’m not able to chromecast for the odd time I want to watch the occasional video with my partner. I’d also still like to be aware of when videos from certain creators come out, so deleting the app just cuts that off entirely. I would absolutely love to have an option for a YouTube app that only has a sub box and no recommendations.
- wyre 4y ago
  I’ve been using Invidious/yewtu.be instead of YouTube so I’m not falling into a recommendation hole. I manually search for the creator I want to watch and decide if their video is worth watching.
- nicbou 4y ago
  I use the mobile website in Firefox for Android
- ornornor 4y ago
  My "hack" is that I only go through my subs on the iOS YT app and add the videos that look interesting to "Watch later" from the phone. Then when I have some time to kill, I go through the "Watch later" list and use "SendToKodi" to share the video to Kodi and watch it on my OLED TV comfortably on my couch. It also skips ads, sponsors, "HiT LikE ANd SUBsCRiBE" begging, etc.
phazy 4y ago
This, so much! I solved this problem on mobile with two approaches: 1. Use a content blocker (e.g. 1Blocker on iOS) to block CSS elements 2. Use an Invidious instance which has disabled the recommendations
teaearlgraycold 4y ago
I also make sure my new tab screen doesn't have sites like YouTube, Twitch, etc. I don't use any social media sites so they won't appear there, but if you do you should also keep them off of your new tab screen.
P0l83q4p1Hw3Ul 4y ago
I've found it's too easy to re-enable the home page, so I also deleted and disabled watch history. This makes the recommendation system much less effective.
songzme 4y ago
I used to be addicted to youtube too, and when looking for a browser extension I found that just adding /etc/hosts entry (on a mac ) works well enough for me that I don't need an actual plugin. 127.0.0.1 youtube.com www.youtube.com It's fast, and when I need to use youtube I just uncomment out the line in vim.
- bossyTeacher 4y ago
  Hey, I am curious to know what happened to your life after you quit tech. Seen your comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28218076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28218076 Feel free to DM/PM me :)

breadchris 4y ago

i can’t believe how effective this has been for me. I’ve noticed that instead of being continually “interested” in youtube and going down the rabbit hole constantly, i actually get bored of youtube pretty quickly once i have watched all the content my subscriptions have put out. i still spend way too much time on my phone, but i guess i need to have the phone equivalent

danuker 4y ago
In NewPipe, you can customize the main page and disable recommendations (from "Content"). But of course Google won't let it on the Play Store. Here it is: https://newpipe.net/ https://newpipe.net/
theteapot 4y ago
> I actually get bored of youtube pretty quickly once i have watched all the content my subscriptions have put out. An addict in denial. Sad.

Phemist 4y ago

Some time ago, a nice fellow HN user @boriselec wrote a browser plugin for, in the end, my personal use (as barely anyone uses it), that redirects all video links to their /embed variant. /embed links are meant to be embedded in other pages and do not show any UI clutter. As it happens, they also work perfectly well if (re-)directly opened! Comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23148026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23148026 Extension here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-embed-link/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-embed...

mythhouse 4y ago
> This add-on is not actively monitored for security by Mozilla. Make sure you trust it before installing.
- Phemist 4y ago
  Yeah.. but luckily the add-on is simple enough that a source-code inspection is feasible (which I did). There's nothing weird going on in the add-on, but please do your own due diligence :)

pamelafox 4y ago

This is my Youtube Unhooked extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-unhooked/fkhfakakdbjcdipdgnbfngaljiecclaf https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-unhooked/f... Not sure if thats the one you use, but it sounds like it. I need to port it to the Edge store, as I now use Edge instead of Chrome.

pamelafox 4y ago
Ah, looks like there's another one called simply Unhook: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/unhook-remove-youtube-rec/khncfooichmfjbepaaaebmommgaepoid https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/unhook-remove-yout...
- suzumer 4y ago
  Yeah, that's the one i use, although i use firefox.

mackrevinack 4y ago

you can hide lots of things with ublock origin as well. these are the filters im using to hide the sidebar and shorts: ! youtube suggested videos sidebar www.youtube.com##ytd-item-section-renderer.ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer.style-scope ! youtube shorts on homepage www.youtube.com##.ytd-rich-section-renderer.style-scope > .ytd-rich-shelf-renderer.style-scope

justnotworthit 4y ago
i strongly recommend "Remove Youtube Suggestions" firefox addon for the ultimate youtube hider. It's even gotten so full featured you can show comments but hide names. Weird but cool.

Octabrain 4y ago

After reading your comment, I went straight to install the extension. Thank you so much!

jug 4y ago

Unhook is great even if you’re not addicted! I used it to clean all the fluff to a minimal YouTube and suddenly it felt all like before Google had bought it! :) But now I think I understand why the extension is named Unhook?

ltrojanowski 4y ago

It's one of the browser add-ons I recommend the most. Together with an add-blocker it makes youtube into a very useful tool, instead of being a time sink. Additionally it makes it much harder to fall into an unhealthy echo chamber.

procinct 4y ago

I really wish there were options like this for mobile (iPhone specifically). Most of my YouTube browsing is done on mobile or chromecasted. I go through phases of deleting the app, which works really well, but then I’m not able to chromecast for the odd time I want to watch the occasional video with my partner. I’d also still like to be aware of when videos from certain creators come out, so deleting the app just cuts that off entirely. I would absolutely love to have an option for a YouTube app that only has a sub box and no recommendations.

wyre 4y ago
I’ve been using Invidious/yewtu.be instead of YouTube so I’m not falling into a recommendation hole. I manually search for the creator I want to watch and decide if their video is worth watching.
nicbou 4y ago
I use the mobile website in Firefox for Android
ornornor 4y ago
My "hack" is that I only go through my subs on the iOS YT app and add the videos that look interesting to "Watch later" from the phone. Then when I have some time to kill, I go through the "Watch later" list and use "SendToKodi" to share the video to Kodi and watch it on my OLED TV comfortably on my couch. It also skips ads, sponsors, "HiT LikE ANd SUBsCRiBE" begging, etc.

phazy 4y ago

This, so much! I solved this problem on mobile with two approaches: 1. Use a content blocker (e.g. 1Blocker on iOS) to block CSS elements 2. Use an Invidious instance which has disabled the recommendations

teaearlgraycold 4y ago

I also make sure my new tab screen doesn't have sites like YouTube, Twitch, etc. I don't use any social media sites so they won't appear there, but if you do you should also keep them off of your new tab screen.

P0l83q4p1Hw3Ul 4y ago

I've found it's too easy to re-enable the home page, so I also deleted and disabled watch history. This makes the recommendation system much less effective.

songzme 4y ago

I used to be addicted to youtube too, and when looking for a browser extension I found that just adding /etc/hosts entry (on a mac ) works well enough for me that I don't need an actual plugin. 127.0.0.1 youtube.com www.youtube.com It's fast, and when I need to use youtube I just uncomment out the line in vim.

bossyTeacher 4y ago
Hey, I am curious to know what happened to your life after you quit tech. Seen your comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28218076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28218076 Feel free to DM/PM me :)