I’m right there with you. I try to grab important or favorite videos while I can to stash on my server for future enjoyment, and I run extensions that block the recommendation feed, ad block, as well as anti-clickbalt (shows random thumbnail from middle of video) when I do use it.
That algorithm is POWERFUL. Blocking the front page and “more like this” or whatever feeds has cut down on my rabbit hole stumbling almost entirely. (I’ll occasionally disable it to find new stuff)
I notice so much of it anymore is just content farming, stuff that exists only in the context of the content business, generating views and courting sponsors. Even though it can be entertaining still, it feels empty.
Genuine human expression is increasingly hard to find on that platform. I mostly use it for those ultra long music playlists and art and game dev stuff. Gotta be careful there too though! So many people are just wannabe gurus selling unattainable saccharine pipe dream lifestyles instead of actually doing the work.
I also donate a fair bit to a creative focused PeerTube instance for my short videos.
Yeah, giving Google unfettered access to your attention span with their algorithm (or any giant corporation) is just a disaster waiting to happen. None of them are interested in your well being or helping you in any way, only to keep you engaging, and to try pushing narratives to the masses. These very same algorithms also determine how creators act and what they post, since disobeying the nebulous ‘algorithm’ results in having your video cratered.
As for PeerTube, I will tell you right out of the gate it won’t be a major supplement to offset something like YouTube watch time. You will find some fun though, it’s quite cool watching super indie stuff you end up enjoying, think like 2005 tier YT where people just kinda post stuff for fun. If you are a creative (e.g. artist, musician, maker, tech reviewer) and have the rights to your videos, MakerTube is the instance I’m on, and they would be happy to have you (my channel). If you aren’t a maker, you can browse the instance list and try to pick a server you’re comfortable with (all of them have an info page which shows their rules and what you can do). I know that’s tedious and overwhelming though, so I spent a little bit mulling for something I’d consider acceptable as a starting point and found Peertube.wtf. They seem to be open signups, allow video uploads with a high limit, non-US, a proper no bigotry policy, looks good at a glance anyway!
I’m right there with you. I try to grab important or favorite videos while I can to stash on my server for future enjoyment, and I run extensions that block the recommendation feed, ad block, as well as anti-clickbalt (shows random thumbnail from middle of video) when I do use it.
That algorithm is POWERFUL. Blocking the front page and “more like this” or whatever feeds has cut down on my rabbit hole stumbling almost entirely. (I’ll occasionally disable it to find new stuff)
I notice so much of it anymore is just content farming, stuff that exists only in the context of the content business, generating views and courting sponsors. Even though it can be entertaining still, it feels empty.
Genuine human expression is increasingly hard to find on that platform. I mostly use it for those ultra long music playlists and art and game dev stuff. Gotta be careful there too though! So many people are just wannabe gurus selling unattainable saccharine pipe dream lifestyles instead of actually doing the work.
This sounds neat! Any recommendations? :)
Yeah, giving Google unfettered access to your attention span with their algorithm (or any giant corporation) is just a disaster waiting to happen. None of them are interested in your well being or helping you in any way, only to keep you engaging, and to try pushing narratives to the masses. These very same algorithms also determine how creators act and what they post, since disobeying the nebulous ‘algorithm’ results in having your video cratered.
As for PeerTube, I will tell you right out of the gate it won’t be a major supplement to offset something like YouTube watch time. You will find some fun though, it’s quite cool watching super indie stuff you end up enjoying, think like 2005 tier YT where people just kinda post stuff for fun. If you are a creative (e.g. artist, musician, maker, tech reviewer) and have the rights to your videos, MakerTube is the instance I’m on, and they would be happy to have you (my channel). If you aren’t a maker, you can browse the instance list and try to pick a server you’re comfortable with (all of them have an info page which shows their rules and what you can do). I know that’s tedious and overwhelming though, so I spent a little bit mulling for something I’d consider acceptable as a starting point and found Peertube.wtf. They seem to be open signups, allow video uploads with a high limit, non-US, a proper no bigotry policy, looks good at a glance anyway!