YouTube Shorts Isn’t Your Only Problem.

[r0ckyreed]

You heard me. The YouTube algorithm is a matrix designed to enslave your mind. The simplest answer is to turn off your watch history. 

If you turn off your watch history, you disable shorts and the algorithm recommended videos.

All these extensions and apps are a distraction. Just turn off your watch history. If you really like a video and want to watch it later, then click the like button or simply create a playlist called “watch history” that way you can have a watch history without having a watch history with all the recommended videos distracting you.  
 

If you use TikTok, I recommended turning the setting to open TikTok on mute. When you open TikTok, close your eyes for the first few seconds as the app opens and just spam tap in bottom right hand corner so it goes to your profile. That way, you won’t get sucked into the matrix. You should only be using TikTok and YouTube for primarily creating content and education. If you want entertainment, then go to the clubs and gym. It is important that you are search videos and not getting fed videos.

Edited January 5 by r0ckyreed

[caspex]

People do anything to avoid trying out new things. I have been using revanced YouTube for over half a year now and I don't have to worry about any of this stuff.

Just get the app, turn off shorts and forget about it. It's literally like the YouTube app just without the things you don't like. It's not that hard to setup, takes 30 mins. It has many more features than simply turning off shorts. You can turn off comments if you don't want others opinion to influence yours. Or you can simply change the homepage to your subscription page so you only see the videos from your subscribed creators.

 

Due to these features, I am at a point where I have turned off and on these features countless times and it doesn't matter to me anymore how many shorts you recommend to my face. Ill never feel the pull again. I have grown resilient to these things and it's all thanks to the app.

 

 

[r0ckyreed]

Revance is another distraction. There’s no point in doing extra steps when all is needed is just turn off your watch history. That’s like installing a meditation app on your phone when all you really need to do is just sit and think. You don’t need the app.

It’s also good to learn willpower too. If you rely on these apps, then you never really learn the secret to willpower and discipline. 

Edited January 5 by r0ckyreed

[Noahsteelers34]

The big issue for me is Instagram reels, aswell as YouTube shorts on the phone. The short form content is so addicting and entertaining. For me no form of settings is gonna stop me. The more important piece is just having better things to do and self discipline. I’ve noticed when I have a lot of free time that’s when these things become a problem. My main issue isn’t that I can’t stop watching, but I haven’t fully figured out if I  truly want to eliminate these things. 

[caspex]

1 hour ago, r0ckyreed said:

Revance is another distraction. There’s no point in doing extra steps when all is needed is just turn off your watch history. That’s like installing a meditation app on your phone when all you really need to do is just sit and think. You don’t need the app.

It’s also good to learn willpower too. If you rely on these apps, then you never really learn the secret to willpower and discipline. 

Turning off your watch history will not get rid of the shorts button at the bottom of your app. Shorts will also keep being recommended in your feed after a few weeks even if you click on the three dots and say 'not interested'. Moreover, your giving up a useful feature like your watch History.

Not to mention, there's a ton of other features that are simply too useful to miss out, and which I need. Look man, I am not trying to use my tools for knowledge, such as YouTube, as a training ground for willpower. I want the tool to be efficient and not drain myself. If you want to develop willpower and discipline do it through more efficient methods such as spiritual practices.

All in all, revanced is a tool and not a distraction. That's like saying I would rather use windows Vista and deal with all the bugs rather than simply installing Windows 11 because it's a distraction due to all the features.

In my view, choosing to not use a very simple tool to enhance your life is being lazy.

 

Edited January 5 by Swarnim

[Yimpa]

Maybe try the burning thru karma technique. Watch YouTube Shorts 10 hrs straight or until you lose your mind 

[r0ckyreed]

6 hours ago, Yimpa said:

Maybe try the burning thru karma technique. Watch YouTube Shorts 10 hrs straight or until you lose your mind 

It’s like telling a smoker to smoke 3 packs a day and burn through the karma. 😊

@Noahsteelers34 You can do screen time so it limits your use. Have a friend set a passcode.

@Swarnim When you turn off your watch history, the button doesn’t go away, but you won’t get any shorts videos. Turning off watch history turns off shorts recommendations. It’s a simple solution.

[martins name]

12 minutes ago, r0ckyreed said:

It’s like telling a smoker to smoke 3 packs a day and burn through the karma.

This actually works tho. Some deliberately smoke until they throw up before going cold turkey.

[Carl-Richard]

13 hours ago, r0ckyreed said:

You heard me. The YouTube algorithm is a matrix designed to enslave your mind. The simplest answer is to turn off your watch history. 

If you turn off your watch history, you disable shorts and the algorithm recommended videos.

Bro, if you disable watch history, you don't escape the algorithm. You get the normie algorithm 😭 

Eliminating all entertainment from your life is going overboard. You eliminate Shorts because they are so undeniably garbage on so many levels.

Edited January 5 by Carl-Richard

[Danioover9000]

@r0ckyreed

14 hours ago, r0ckyreed said:

You heard me. The YouTube algorithm is a matrix designed to enslave your mind. The simplest answer is to turn off your watch history. 

If you turn off your watch history, you disable shorts and the algorithm recommended videos.

All these extensions and apps are a distraction. Just turn off your watch history. If you really like a video and want to watch it later, then click the like button or simply create a playlist called “watch history” that way you can have a watch history without having a watch history with all the recommended videos distracting you.  
 

If you use TikTok, I recommended turning the setting to open TikTok on mute. When you open TikTok, close your eyes for the first few seconds as the app opens and just spam tap in bottom right hand corner so it goes to your profile. That way, you won’t get sucked into the matrix. You should only be using TikTok and YouTube for primarily creating content and education. If you want entertainment, then go to the clubs and gym. It is important that you are search videos and not getting fed videos.

   I agree. Everyone should have a self realization, or enlightenment moment like this:

   Minus biting people of course.

[Danioover9000]

   Nice coverage of this situation, on the YouTube Algorithm bit:

 

[Yimpa]

You’re better off approaching 100 people and having short conversations with them as opposed to watching 100 TikTube Shorts.

Short interactions are not inherently wrong. They give you a potential taste of something interesting, but it’s your job to deepen that connection and not automatically move onto the next short thing.

Think of it like waiting at a train station. Your train comes in 10 minutes. What will you do in those next 10 mins? Talk to the woman next to you? Scroll through Instagram? Give some money to a homeless man playing guitar?

Don’t over analyze what to do. Take a short 30 second break to feel into your body and observe.

Edited January 5 by Yimpa

[Navaneet]

2 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Eliminating all entertainment from your life is going overboard.

Not all YouTube videos are simply entertainment-focused. There is news, talks, and informational content too. Even, what we deem to be entertainment like movies and TV shows have informationally-useful insights and content.. So, yes, being so puritanical and turning everything off is going overboard. This is like surfing. You need to surf for a while, maybe a lot... in order to get that balance correct... and then you can surf through what is relevant for you and what is not, by learned instinct, and intuition..

[Navaneet]

1 hour ago, Yimpa said:

You’re better off approaching 100 people and having short conversations with them as opposed to watching 100 TikTube Shorts.

Short interactions are not inherently wrong. They give you a potential taste of something interesting, but it’s your job to deepen that connection and not automatically move onto the next short thing..

I think it is better to watch an entire season of TV series (without ads) than it is to watch 100 YouTube shorts. The problem with scrolling through YT shorts is that, you are emotionally all over the place.. Whereas in a movie or a TV show, or even a long youtube video, documentary or an actualized video.. you get to stay on one topic... or one over-arching theme... without getting it all mixed up..

YouTube shorts is great if you are binge watching cat videos or something like that.. but when it comes to human beings talking... listening to a hundred human beings for 30 secs, spouting whatever unavoidably disparate things they happen to spout -- simply is not congenial to maintain a clear mind. 

[Danioover9000]

   The real issue is overuse of social media, internet spaces, and internet contents like shorts, and Tik Tok like videos, leads to shorter and degraded attention spans, leading to more difficulties reading books, critical thinking, focusing and concentration, and indoctrinated sense of chasing more shorter content and devaluing longer content. It's all in the Tik Tok formatting and design, intended to increase mental addiction and screen time despite the corrosive effects it has for brain health.

[Yimpa]

Instagram Reels are also pretty toxic. No matter how many times I’ve tapped on “Not Interested” on countless reels, I still get recommended the same kind of reels. 

Definitely not respectful of boundaries and lacking in AI intelligence.

[r0ckyreed]

17 hours ago, martins name said:

This actually works tho. Some deliberately smoke until they throw up before going cold turkey.

It works for some but most get more addicted and some even die from overdose. Burning through karma doesn’t work for every addiction. Telling an opioid addict to increase their dose won’t be helpful. No doctor will recommend this. Notice that.

[r0ckyreed]

14 hours ago, Carl-Richard said:

Bro, if you disable watch history, you don't escape the algorithm. You get the normie algorithm 😭 

Eliminating all entertainment from your life is going overboard. You eliminate Shorts because they are so undeniably garbage on so many levels.

I’m not going to screen shot it for you. Shorts relies on watch history. Every time I open shorts, it says to turn on watch history to access shorts. I can always search for shorts I want, but it won’t recommend me any shorts because I have no watch history. Even if you get the normy shorts, which I did for a while, it is easier to manage than ones that tailor to your addiction. 

[Yimpa]

Let’s not make a false equivalency with social media addiction and hard drug addiction. 

[Navaneet]

Of course, or with any drug addiction. Even letting someone smoke packs of cigarettes in a sitting to burn through karma is very bad for the body. Probably much much more than binging on social media. So comparing social media addiction with drug addiction is not always the right thing.