YouTube's only goal is to make more money. Most YouTubers' only goal is to get more views. Sure it can be useful but that's a perfect excuse to live on forever. People were fine before YouTube, and you can learn anything from words an images.
I recommend taking a page out of the FSF's book and just straight up not using it, because it doesn't respect its users.
I also need a solution for my addiction. I was thinking of blocking all addictive apps in my main (phone) account and set up a kids account for myself where all the drugs are installed. Then I need to ask myself for screen time. I hope this is annoying enough to not switch accounts constantly. If that doesn't work, I need to give another person the control over the screen time.
ask a relative that you visit from time to time what's their favourite book on their shelf and why. This way, you at least make sure that they would not toss the book in a whim.
ask them to write the parental control PIN on one or two pieces of paper and then type it on the phone screen to lock it.
ask them to store the piece/s of paper in their favourite book/s.
bow to never bother them about the piece/s of paper unlesls you are stranded in the middle of the ocean and need to use the phone. When you visit them, you might unlock the phone and repeat the process
Putting in blockers and the like helps, but what I've found worked best was to consider this quote by Anthony DeMello:
"When you fight something, you're tied to it forever. As long as you're fighting it, you’re giving it power."
When I learned to stop feeling bad/guilty/thinking this was a problem to solve and just let my mind drift, I found that my mind naturally learned when it was disciplined work time vs. browse the internet time. Personally, I noticed that when I didn't have any artificial restriction, I was less inclined to waste time on those things.
In practice: "oh, my mind doesn't want to do that other thing right now but it does want to go look at this thing; let it." The more I've loosened my grip, the less distractions have affected my productivity.
On my smartphone I'm not using Google Play Services so when I open the app, all I get is the search box.
I told a friend this and told him this flips the script on the Algo. Now instead of YT telling you what to watch, YOU are in control of what YOU want to watch.
We have to start breaking this cycle somehow. This is a great way to do it.
I'm one of those that instinctively types the letter "y", presses the down arrow, then enter, and goes straight to the subscriptions page.
Unfortunately, I now have to scroll through the "most relevant" section, then through shorts, and only then do I reach the videos in the chronological order. What I also hate is how when a channel I usually engage with uploads a video I have no interest in, then it's stuck on top of my subscription page in that "most relevant" section for like a week.
Or don't login. It will still learn about you so you don't always receive the blank main page. My browser is set to clear that data, yet with a single video being played the algo is already suggesting more content.
I did similar for my work PC but for the browser: turn off all the conveniences. No history in the bar so there's no way way to lazily navigate to a website, I have to manually type in the URL. Saved passwords and cookies? Nope! closing the browser wipes history.
Blocking recommendations is the one thing I'd add to this list. You can easily do so with uBlock Origin, and it's made the biggest difference for me.
Water still finds cracks, but it's about reducing the likelihood and increasing the time between binges (so that they mentally register as necessarily intentional and abnormal)
If you've got an iPhone/Mac I recommend Apple's free Apple Configurator tool to lock down your phone to only the set of apps you whitelist and/or route all traffic through a VPN/Proxy that whitelists only certain IPs. You can only change the whitelist when you're physically back at your Mac so prevents me impulsively relaxing the restrictions in any moments of boredom.
The internet is a rich tapestry of human knowledge and experience. When I scroll Instagram, I often discover incredible new artists who present in human form. Once you start tapping like on things, the journey of discovery is almost biblical.
The secret is learning to use your tools to bring joyful moments of surrender into your otherwise mundane existence.
I recommend taking a page out of the FSF's book and just straight up not using it, because it doesn't respect its users.
bow to never bother them about the piece/s of paper unlesls you are stranded in the middle of the ocean and need to use the phone. When you visit them, you might unlock the phone and repeat the process
"When you fight something, you're tied to it forever. As long as you're fighting it, you’re giving it power."
When I learned to stop feeling bad/guilty/thinking this was a problem to solve and just let my mind drift, I found that my mind naturally learned when it was disciplined work time vs. browse the internet time. Personally, I noticed that when I didn't have any artificial restriction, I was less inclined to waste time on those things.
In practice: "oh, my mind doesn't want to do that other thing right now but it does want to go look at this thing; let it." The more I've loosened my grip, the less distractions have affected my productivity.
“I simply eat more and the weight just falls off!” Showing pictures of chocolate cake and burgers.
You’re gonna eat more: Milkshakes, pasta, French fries!
You’re gonna lose more weight.
And you’re gonna feel great.
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Turn off your YouTube watch history. This disables video suggestions when you open the website or the app.
I told a friend this and told him this flips the script on the Algo. Now instead of YT telling you what to watch, YOU are in control of what YOU want to watch.
We have to start breaking this cycle somehow. This is a great way to do it.
Getting only the stuff you've curated is way better than the algorithm.
Unfortunately, I now have to scroll through the "most relevant" section, then through shorts, and only then do I reach the videos in the chronological order. What I also hate is how when a channel I usually engage with uploads a video I have no interest in, then it's stuck on top of my subscription page in that "most relevant" section for like a week.
Just to add to that, it's a two step process: disable saving new history, and then clear all history
I estimate my watch time dropped by half per day the first time I did that. Then I started curating my subscriptions better, and watching from that.
Water still finds cracks, but it's about reducing the likelihood and increasing the time between binges (so that they mentally register as necessarily intentional and abnormal)
- from a phone addict
The secret is learning to use your tools to bring joyful moments of surrender into your otherwise mundane existence.