4 ms·

I am currently in high school, you definitely are right that the majority of people my age do just waste their time on YouTube (I do too sometimes) but there ar

I am currently in high school, you definitely are right that the majority of people my age do just waste their time on YouTube (I do too sometimes) but there are a few of us that really take advantage of it. I have personally spent a large amount of time on YouTube learning to program over the past few years, I have now become quite competent and built some pretty cool things on my own (search engines, chess bots, personal web apps, competitive programming, etc.) My brother older brother spent a lot of time watching videos about physics and math to the point where he is now doing a physics degree. A lot of my other friends have used it to cultivate other skills and knowledge for free too.

hyperliner 3y ago
Keep doing what you are doing!!! (Old person here)
EGreg 3y ago
[flagged]
- 867-5309 3y ago
  disclaimer: this is yours
  - EGreg 3y ago
    Yes. That’s why I am asking
    - Kye 3y ago
      It's good form to say you're the person behind the thing you're recommending. Making stuff to solve problems is the point of most of the domain this little website is under, so self-promotion is fine, but not saying that's what it is looks bad.
      - EGreg 3y ago
        Right. But I'm not promoting it. I am definitely NOT recommending it. It isn’t even launched. I was attempting to ask in an unbiased way whether it would help. That would require one person (the one I am asking) to go and check it out. Yes, I omitted saying it's mine, not because of any nefarious reason. Just didn't realize it was necessary to simply ask an opinion of one person about whether it would have the intended effect. And in my opinion it would actually be counterproductive to reveal that I made it.
        froggit 3y ago
        Nah, no one is saying you're being nefarious. We just don't understand why you aren't proud enough to openly declare that's your work that you're not not promoting.
        EGreg 3y ago
        It’s not that I am not proud enough. I was simply interested in the opinion of a thoughtful high schooler who is aware of what his friends are doing. I want to help fix society, including teenage education. This is how I do it — using software. I encountered an opportunity to ask an unbiased question and I took it — without biasing it with “Heey, what do you think of MY project that I clearly worked hard on?” That wouldn’t be neutral and thus defeat the purpose of asking the question. Reading into this that I am somehow looking to promote it is wrong. It would be a terrible way to promite, anyway. There can be other reasons for asking a question deep inside a comment thread that hardly anyone sees, than low key trying to draw attention to a project for purposes of promoting it. Besides, it isn’t even launched yet.
        Kye 3y ago
        That's promotion, though. It would be promotion if you didn't make it. I've been accused of being a shill for enough things I was enthusiastic about to be 100% sure of this. And since you did make it, it's hard to argue you don't benefit in some way from sharing it. That's why disclosure is good form.
- evanchisholm 3y ago
  I think this may be useful for people who are already interested in learning various things on the internet, however I don't think it would necessarily pull most people away from the highly addictive content they are already consuming. In my experience people who are curious will find the resources they need to satisfy their curiosity and it's very hard to get those who aren't curious to engage with anything.
  - EGreg 3y ago
    Thank you very much for your feedback! That is all I was looking for. But somehow the sibling comment opened an interesting rabbithole — if you happen to scroll through its subtree I wonder what you think (since you’re the one I asked hehe). PS: By asking this, I am not promoting rabbitholes! :)
ianai 3y ago
But what is the breakdown? 1 in 100, 1 in 1000, 1 in the entire school that gets YT as a knowledge mine? (Possibly as simple as how many you know of compared to how much of the school population you know.)

hyperliner 3y ago

Keep doing what you are doing!!! (Old person here)

EGreg 3y ago

[flagged]

867-5309 3y ago
disclaimer: this is yours
- EGreg 3y ago
  Yes. That’s why I am asking
  - Kye 3y ago
    It's good form to say you're the person behind the thing you're recommending. Making stuff to solve problems is the point of most of the domain this little website is under, so self-promotion is fine, but not saying that's what it is looks bad.
    - EGreg 3y ago
      Right. But I'm not promoting it. I am definitely NOT recommending it. It isn’t even launched. I was attempting to ask in an unbiased way whether it would help. That would require one person (the one I am asking) to go and check it out. Yes, I omitted saying it's mine, not because of any nefarious reason. Just didn't realize it was necessary to simply ask an opinion of one person about whether it would have the intended effect. And in my opinion it would actually be counterproductive to reveal that I made it.
      - froggit 3y ago
        Nah, no one is saying you're being nefarious. We just don't understand why you aren't proud enough to openly declare that's your work that you're not not promoting.
        EGreg 3y ago
        It’s not that I am not proud enough. I was simply interested in the opinion of a thoughtful high schooler who is aware of what his friends are doing. I want to help fix society, including teenage education. This is how I do it — using software. I encountered an opportunity to ask an unbiased question and I took it — without biasing it with “Heey, what do you think of MY project that I clearly worked hard on?” That wouldn’t be neutral and thus defeat the purpose of asking the question. Reading into this that I am somehow looking to promote it is wrong. It would be a terrible way to promite, anyway. There can be other reasons for asking a question deep inside a comment thread that hardly anyone sees, than low key trying to draw attention to a project for purposes of promoting it. Besides, it isn’t even launched yet.
      - Kye 3y ago
        That's promotion, though. It would be promotion if you didn't make it. I've been accused of being a shill for enough things I was enthusiastic about to be 100% sure of this. And since you did make it, it's hard to argue you don't benefit in some way from sharing it. That's why disclosure is good form.
evanchisholm 3y ago
I think this may be useful for people who are already interested in learning various things on the internet, however I don't think it would necessarily pull most people away from the highly addictive content they are already consuming. In my experience people who are curious will find the resources they need to satisfy their curiosity and it's very hard to get those who aren't curious to engage with anything.
- EGreg 3y ago
  Thank you very much for your feedback! That is all I was looking for. But somehow the sibling comment opened an interesting rabbithole — if you happen to scroll through its subtree I wonder what you think (since you’re the one I asked hehe). PS: By asking this, I am not promoting rabbitholes! :)

ianai 3y ago

But what is the breakdown? 1 in 100, 1 in 1000, 1 in the entire school that gets YT as a knowledge mine? (Possibly as simple as how many you know of compared to how much of the school population you know.)