How do I watch YouTube in moderation?

[Leo Gura]

17 minutes ago, Tyler Robinson said:

What are those plug-ins for?

They got Cold Turkey for most devices.

[Tyler Robinson]

6 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

They got Cold Turkey for most devices.

Do they just block ads or block features too? 

 

[Leo Gura]

@Tyler Robinson Neither. Check their site.

[Ayham]

I use "DF tube" (distraction free YouTube extension)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/df-tube-distraction-free/mjdepdfccjgcndkmemponafgioodelna?hl=en

 

 

[flyingguitarist]

But still why not  allow  YT algorithms do its thing to also  benefit you too? If it wasn't YT recommendations I wouldn't have found leo's channel and so other channels. Completely disabling it would not let me discover many channels

Edited June 26, 2022 by flyingguitarist

[hyruga]

Why not try the contrarian approach?

You should watch 12 hours of YouTube daily until you burn through the cravings of watching YouTube.

 

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, hyruga said:

Why not try the contrarian approach?

You should watch 12 hours of YouTube daily until you burn through the cravings of watching YouTube.

Watch so much YT till it kills you and you reincarnate as the Buddha.

[Gesundheit2]

On 6/25/2022 at 8:36 AM, Ninja_pig said:

So my question is: how do I get the benefits of YouTube without wasting such ridiculous amounts of time on it?

There are no benefits in watching YouTube aimlessly. Just like there are no benefits in scrolling down TikTok or IG. You either follow useful content, or you're just wasting your time. If you think there are benefits, then with the number of hours you have under your belt, you've probably exhausted all the benefits already, and there's really not much point for you in consuming any more content.

Personally, I don't use YouTube that much, mostly just to watch what is necessary for my goals/growth. Remember that YouTube is a tool. Use it, but don't let it use you.

[Kksd74628]

@Ninja_pig

Watch more value dense videos until you don't have anything new to watch. As long as this is not the case just keep doing what you do.

-joNi-

[Jannes]

You use IOS right? My biggest addiction by far is also YouTube. But at the same time I couldn’t do without, there is just way to much to learn from it. I personally use screen time on iOS because it tracks it across all devices. So when I watched an hour on my IPad I can’t watch it on my phone also. If you block YouTube only on your PC you will just watch it on your IPhone. For my windows PC I use coldturkey to block it completely. This works great the only problem is that you just have to tip in 4 numbers to unlock your screen time on iOS. So I put that code behind another super long and annoying code in another app. So it’s not tempting to change the code. You also have to think about how you will compensate. You won’t just be productive, you will look for alternatives. I also put Netflix in my 1 hour block for example. Oh and also the screen time won’t count if you just have YouTube running in the background. I don’t know if this is a dealbreaker for you, but for me it’s just phenomenal because it allows me to listen to long and productive videos (like Leos) without wasting my youtube time that I also like for a little treat. I am way more aware of what I watch now because I know my time is limited. Instead of binging though random videos I am know really selective and only watch what I really enjoy or get a lot of value out of. Think about how little you can handle. At the beginning your frustration about yourself is still fresh so you may say half an hour is plenty or something but after a week or so you want that comfortable dopamine really bad so don’t overdo it. 

[bambi]

58 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

Watch so much YT till it kills you and you reincarnate as the Buddha.

So do you now believe in re-incarnation, in the past youve changed your position several times

[Girzo]

6 hours ago, hyruga said:

Why not try the contrarian approach?

You should watch 12 hours of YouTube daily until you burn through the cravings of watching YouTube.

You get better at what you practice/do a lot. That's the problem.

Initially, it works as you say, but eventually the person doing this will get forget the pain and will be better prepared to sit long-hours watching youtube.

[Yog]

On 6/26/2022 at 1:12 AM, Ninja_pig said:

I actually didn't consider disabling comments, but I think that's what I'll do from now on. Disable comments and subscriptions.

I didn't too at first. But after a while I found myself reading trough them and distracting myself. So those had to go for me too.


Note. I do have a very addictive personality and found it useless to willpower myself trough such things, it feels like such a waste of energy with no guarantee I will succeed. So I always take extra measures to make caloric dopamine activities unavailable or hard to get, as I get hacked easily.

For ex: I also tend to get stuck with gaming, I would say to myself, I'll go for 1 hour and I end up doing it for minimum 3 hours, so nowadays, my Steam password is so locked up and split up, that it would take me about 20 minutes of getting multiple files that are on different hardware and writing multiple long special character passwords in order to get the final complex jpg password, that I will also have to write and not copy paste.

The more difficult the thing you are trying to avoid is, the less you will do it. If you are not that addicted, than "not seeing" it around can just be enough. Like the YT comment section for ex.

[Virtually]

there's a great browser extension you can use to pick elements of the web page you're visiting and disable them for good - completely removing them - for any site you want, not just youtube. it's called uBlock Origin

it's basically your DF tube or Unhooked app, but for customizable for all sites. I also used it to disable the YouTube shorts button, or to disable the subscription button which remains active with DF tube. This way, you can remove more stuff compared to what pre-made extension allowed you to, further countering the addictive design of websites

it's like you're doing true UX design for yourself, in a way that's empowering you rather than exploiting you. you keep what works for you and remove the rest

btw you can use it for YouTube mobile as well. personally, that's a great option though

the caveat is that you're going to have to watch it on some browser that supports either extensions (like kiwi browser), or on a browser that supports customized blocks (like vivaldi). both kiwi and Vivaldi are great, although they are not very well known. the yt app, which I uninstalled, is way to distracting and addictive, and the problem with using conventional blockers is that at one point you're going to get to the point where you find some way to disable them and binge watch for 3 hours straight

my next move is uninstalling all browsers from phone altogether, since the more life circumstances demand I rely on myself, the more I come to the conclusion that these sacrifices and "radical" choices (radical in the eyes of the people around me, at least) are necessary and even inevitable if I want to fulfill on my ambitions

hope this helps

[Peoria]

The best thing to have are some browser extensions in your mind. 

 

[Virtually]

3 hours ago, Yog said:

For ex: I also tend to get stuck with gaming, I would say to myself, I'll go for 1 hour and I end up doing it for minimum 3 hours, so nowadays, my Steam password is so locked up and split up, that it would take me about 20 minutes of getting multiple files that are on different hardware and writing multiple long special character passwords in order to get the final complex jpg password, that I will also have to write and not copy paste.
 

I find that so cool haha

[Display_Name]

On 6/25/2022 at 6:28 PM, Illusory Self said:

@Aaron p

Do you know best alternative for IOS? 

iOS has in-built screentime. It's excellent. Have a friend do the password.

[Devin]

Burn out on it, binge it, you'll get sick of it.

[Reciprocality]

You develop good taste and find that only two percent of those you typically watch are worthy your time anyway, and that unless they engage that in you which require your conscious efforts it is evident of your weakness and that as a maxim you suppose yourself strong.

 

You develop your negative judgments (note they are not in want of material on the site you reference) and feel into how ridiculously limited your time is (and should be) as this pile of tissue, perhaps then you will not need the bandages presented elsewhere in this thread, but lets admit it, what are the chances?

So I vote for the path to least resistance, find the plugin for you" : )

[Vision]

10 hours ago, Devin said:

Burn out on it, binge it, you'll get sick of it.

This might work for some people but I wouldn’t recommend this.

You’ll probably just end up getting more hooked since your brain adapts to the amount of exertion needed to do the activity.

Idly watching YouTube doesn’t require much exertion, so to preserve energy and resources your brain and body will weaken since it doesn’t have a need to be strong

Much like how when you stop working out at the gym, your strength weakens because your body doesn’t have any need to preserve that strength, whereas when you are pushing your muscles at the gym on a consistent basis, your body sees the need to adapt and grow itself, which it does.