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I likely have some degree of YouTube addiction as well. While I hope your tactic is working well for you, I believe this way of thinking can be a deceiving. Alm

I likely have some degree of YouTube addiction as well. While I hope your tactic is working well for you, I believe this way of thinking can be a deceiving. Almost all the YouTube content I consume is related to science, engineering, math or chess (I’ve watched many of Susskinds’s lectures too). I used to rationalize my excessive use by telling myself that the content I watched was useful. In reality, my time would be FAR better reading a book, doing a project, socializing, doing chores, or really anything other than just being a YouTube zombie.

goostavos 4y ago
>can be a deceiving I think that's a great way of describing it. Watching "educational" content feels better or more productive than watching a Let's Play, but it's all basically empty entertainment -- the medium and the algorithm sort've necessitate it. Which is definitely not to say there's not awesome resources on youtube for actually learning things, but, for the most part, I'm not watching things that actually take mental effort. I'm more often just letting trash wash over me while also convincing myself that it's OK because "I'm learning" (even though whatever trivial factoid being discussed is immediately ejected from my brain when the next video starts) I've realized that the internet has a numbing effect on me. It all washes over me until I feel absolutely nothing and I'm just mindlessly consuming. My ISP was recently down for a day, and it actually made life (at least temporarily) more interesting. Rather than just sitting in front of a screen and having content pumped into my veins, my SO and I had to leave the house to seek out things to do. Then the internet came back and now we're both back on the drip.
TexanFeller 4y ago
I'm not(err no longer) fooling myself that I'm learning like I would be by methodically working through a textbook, but it's fun, an improvement to what I was doing before, the most I can consistently muster when I'm zapped after work, not harmful like the toxically engaging political/social content, and inspires me with interesting topics to read further about later. I've accumulated a pile of books on subjects I've listened to talks about and hope to transition to those someday soon when I can manage to get out of the funk I've been in and have more mental energy. I'm already working on the lighter books, but haven't had made it to textbooks yet.

goostavos 4y ago

>can be a deceiving I think that's a great way of describing it. Watching "educational" content feels better or more productive than watching a Let's Play, but it's all basically empty entertainment -- the medium and the algorithm sort've necessitate it. Which is definitely not to say there's not awesome resources on youtube for actually learning things, but, for the most part, I'm not watching things that actually take mental effort. I'm more often just letting trash wash over me while also convincing myself that it's OK because "I'm learning" (even though whatever trivial factoid being discussed is immediately ejected from my brain when the next video starts) I've realized that the internet has a numbing effect on me. It all washes over me until I feel absolutely nothing and I'm just mindlessly consuming. My ISP was recently down for a day, and it actually made life (at least temporarily) more interesting. Rather than just sitting in front of a screen and having content pumped into my veins, my SO and I had to leave the house to seek out things to do. Then the internet came back and now we're both back on the drip.

TexanFeller 4y ago

I'm not(err no longer) fooling myself that I'm learning like I would be by methodically working through a textbook, but it's fun, an improvement to what I was doing before, the most I can consistently muster when I'm zapped after work, not harmful like the toxically engaging political/social content, and inspires me with interesting topics to read further about later. I've accumulated a pile of books on subjects I've listened to talks about and hope to transition to those someday soon when I can manage to get out of the funk I've been in and have more mental energy. I'm already working on the lighter books, but haven't had made it to textbooks yet.