Overall, I like YouTube. I enjoy documentaries where I can learn all manner of things, sometimes of questionable accuracy; still, it can be fun. I enjoy some of the music, some of the editorials, tutorials, and so on. There’s no real filter on YouTube (or most of the Internet), so you can’t really rely on what you see. You have to accept that as part of the deal.
YouTube has become a source of income for some content creators. I have no problem with this. People often work hard to create their videos. Why not monetize the channel, let them make some money from it. Ideally, it will help YouTubers continue to create interesting content.
Sadly, some people create bullshit videos trying to game the system. They produce content-free videos that add nothing to YouTube or the world, but which may produce some increased revenue to the authors.
Many thumbnails and titles are simply clickbait – they show images or create headlines that cause powerful emotions – fear, anger, humor, whatever. They want you to click on the link. The videos don’t deliver on the promises.
I’ve mentioned how many authors say that something “breaks physics” or “breaks the Internet” or whatever, as though such a thing were possible. Of course, you want to check it out – I mean, if it broke the Internet, it must be important, right? Sadly, no. It’s just some author trying to cash in on your emotions. Of course, if it *really* broke the Internet, you’d never see the video, because the Internet would be broken.
There are many other examples, some of which I’ll list. Aside from “breaking science” there are those headlines that claim “Science can’t explain,” or “Scientists are terrified,” “Scientists are shocked…” and so on. Many authors try, “What THEY don’t want you to know…” Or scientific discoveries where “Science tried to hide this…” Of course if someone is trying to hide something from me, I want to know what it is. And if Scientists are terrified, I probably want to know whether I should be terrified as well. “The TRUTH about X” is probably bullshit about X. “Ancient Technology” or “Ancient Science,” etc., I assume to be complete bullshit and ignore. Actually, I select “Don’t recommend channel.”
There are some videos with headlines such as, “The Doctor (or Vet or Lawyer or whoever) called the police when he saw THIS…” Clickbait.
One trick I find especially annoying is the “tug at your heartstrings” stories. It may be about a homeless person who gives back a wallet, is rewarded by a new home. Or a lost, frightened kitten finds a forever home. Any sort of story that is either heartwarming, or possibly someone receiving karma. I’m all for these stories, but the authors take a two- or three-minute story and stretch it out to twenty minutes or more. “He saw the kitten on the road. He put his foot on the brake and brought his car to a stop. He undid his seatbelt, opened the car door, stepped out, and walked to the kitten. He saw the fear in the kitten’s eyes. He felt sorry for the kitten…” And yadda-yadda-yadda, endless irrelevant details just to keep your attention longer. The story is usually, “He found a kitten and took it home with him.”
The reason for doing this is that YouTube has algorithms that they use to calculate who gets monetized, how much they get, and so on. The algorithms looks at things such as the number of clicks, the number of comments, how long viewers watch, and no doubt other factors. The more clicks, the better. The longer a viewer stays on the video, the more money the author can get. And the author also is rewarded by having a large number of videos. It’s not easy to create high-quality, factual or interesting videos, so some authors cheat. And that pisses me off. It’s not so much that they’re gaming the system, it’s that they’re wasting my time.
There are about 15 billion videos on YouTube now. If I could watch one video every second, it would take me over 100,000 years to see them all. Most videos are more than one second long, so I’d actually have to spend millions of years trying to watch them all. Who’s got time for that? Obviously, I need to weed out a lot of videos, try to make sure I’m not wasting my time. Shady practices like clickbait accomplish the opposite.
Occasionally I’ll see something like “Watch this video before it’s taken down.” Some of these videos have been around for years, which makes me suspicious that YouTube would ever take them down.
Because of this I’ve developed some habits or rules to help me avoid clickbait. If something “breaks” science, the Internet, or anything else, I tell the algorithm not to recommend that channel again. If it’s anything that THEY don’t want me to know, ditto. Emotional stories of any kind that are longer than about five minutes get cut. The TRUTH about anything is almost – but not quite – always bullshit. I cut them anyway, because the odds are highly against it being useful information.
As much as I love cats, I won’t spend 15-20 minutes on a video that tells me someone found a cat and gave it a home. I’m glad for the cat, glad for the human, but it’s not worth 15 minutes of my time.
Another problem with YouTube is that there is no guarantee that the information has anything to do with reality. If I choose a topic – “should I take Supplement A?” – I am almost certain to find videos explaining how Supplement A is the key to good health and long life; that it’s a deadly poison that will lead to an early grave; and just about any other opinion I might want to see. There are all sorts of motivations for producing videos. People who make and market Supplement A would make positive videos. Those who make medications that supposedly do what the Supplement does, might want to warn of the dangers. Many authors don’t really know much, but are fine with creating videos that are mostly fluff and vague comments. Usually the only way you’ll learn the truth is to try Supplement A, see whether it kills you.
One of the dangers of YouTube is that you can generally find videos that support your beliefs, whatever they may be. If you favor vaccination, there are plenty of videos that support it. If you’re antivax, you’ll find endless videos that confirm your belief. You can’t rely on your information, since you can always find videos that agree with whatever position you favor. This is called being in an echo chamber, where everything you encounter agrees with your cognitive biases. It’s a comfortable place, but not a wholesome one. We’re not always right. We need to hear that sometimes.
YouTube Bullshit
Overall, I like YouTube. I enjoy documentaries where I can learn all manner of things, sometimes of questionable accuracy; still, it can be fun. I enjoy some of the music, some of the editorials, tutorials, and so on. There’s no real filter on YouTube (or most of the Internet), so you can’t really rely on what you see. You have to accept that as part of the deal.
YouTube has become a source of income for some content creators. I have no problem with this. People often work hard to create their videos. Why not monetize the channel, let them make some money from it. Ideally, it will help YouTubers continue to create interesting content.
Sadly, some people create bullshit videos trying to game the system. They produce content-free videos that add nothing to YouTube or the world, but which may produce some increased revenue to the authors.
Many thumbnails and titles are simply clickbait – they show images or create headlines that cause powerful emotions – fear, anger, humor, whatever. They want you to click on the link. The videos don’t deliver on the promises.
I’ve mentioned how many authors say that something “breaks physics” or “breaks the Internet” or whatever, as though such a thing were possible. Of course, you want to check it out – I mean, if it broke the Internet, it must be important, right? Sadly, no. It’s just some author trying to cash in on your emotions. Of course, if it *really* broke the Internet, you’d never see the video, because the Internet would be broken.
There are many other examples, some of which I’ll list. Aside from “breaking science” there are those headlines that claim “Science can’t explain,” or “Scientists are terrified,” “Scientists are shocked…” and so on. Many authors try, “What THEY don’t want you to know…” Or scientific discoveries where “Science tried to hide this…” Of course if someone is trying to hide something from me, I want to know what it is. And if Scientists are terrified, I probably want to know whether I should be terrified as well. “The TRUTH about X” is probably bullshit about X. “Ancient Technology” or “Ancient Science,” etc., I assume to be complete bullshit and ignore. Actually, I select “Don’t recommend channel.”
There are some videos with headlines such as, “The Doctor (or Vet or Lawyer or whoever) called the police when he saw THIS…” Clickbait.
One trick I find especially annoying is the “tug at your heartstrings” stories. It may be about a homeless person who gives back a wallet, is rewarded by a new home. Or a lost, frightened kitten finds a forever home. Any sort of story that is either heartwarming, or possibly someone receiving karma. I’m all for these stories, but the authors take a two- or three-minute story and stretch it out to twenty minutes or more. “He saw the kitten on the road. He put his foot on the brake and brought his car to a stop. He undid his seatbelt, opened the car door, stepped out, and walked to the kitten. He saw the fear in the kitten’s eyes. He felt sorry for the kitten…” And yadda-yadda-yadda, endless irrelevant details just to keep your attention longer. The story is usually, “He found a kitten and took it home with him.”
The reason for doing this is that YouTube has algorithms that they use to calculate who gets monetized, how much they get, and so on. The algorithms looks at things such as the number of clicks, the number of comments, how long viewers watch, and no doubt other factors. The more clicks, the better. The longer a viewer stays on the video, the more money the author can get. And the author also is rewarded by having a large number of videos. It’s not easy to create high-quality, factual or interesting videos, so some authors cheat. And that pisses me off. It’s not so much that they’re gaming the system, it’s that they’re wasting my time.
There are about 15 billion videos on YouTube now. If I could watch one video every second, it would take me over 100,000 years to see them all. Most videos are more than one second long, so I’d actually have to spend millions of years trying to watch them all. Who’s got time for that? Obviously, I need to weed out a lot of videos, try to make sure I’m not wasting my time. Shady practices like clickbait accomplish the opposite.
Occasionally I’ll see something like “Watch this video before it’s taken down.” Some of these videos have been around for years, which makes me suspicious that YouTube would ever take them down.
Because of this I’ve developed some habits or rules to help me avoid clickbait. If something “breaks” science, the Internet, or anything else, I tell the algorithm not to recommend that channel again. If it’s anything that THEY don’t want me to know, ditto. Emotional stories of any kind that are longer than about five minutes get cut. The TRUTH about anything is almost – but not quite – always bullshit. I cut them anyway, because the odds are highly against it being useful information.
As much as I love cats, I won’t spend 15-20 minutes on a video that tells me someone found a cat and gave it a home. I’m glad for the cat, glad for the human, but it’s not worth 15 minutes of my time.
Another problem with YouTube is that there is no guarantee that the information has anything to do with reality. If I choose a topic – “should I take Supplement A?” – I am almost certain to find videos explaining how Supplement A is the key to good health and long life; that it’s a deadly poison that will lead to an early grave; and just about any other opinion I might want to see. There are all sorts of motivations for producing videos. People who make and market Supplement A would make positive videos. Those who make medications that supposedly do what the Supplement does, might want to warn of the dangers. Many authors don’t really know much, but are fine with creating videos that are mostly fluff and vague comments. Usually the only way you’ll learn the truth is to try Supplement A, see whether it kills you.
One of the dangers of YouTube is that you can generally find videos that support your beliefs, whatever they may be. If you favor vaccination, there are plenty of videos that support it. If you’re antivax, you’ll find endless videos that confirm your belief. You can’t rely on your information, since you can always find videos that agree with whatever position you favor. This is called being in an echo chamber, where everything you encounter agrees with your cognitive biases. It’s a comfortable place, but not a wholesome one. We’re not always right. We need to hear that sometimes.