YouTube is designed to make you consume more videos on its site. It’s their source of revenue.
The more time you spend on YouTube, the more advertisements you watch — which translates to more revenue for YouTube. In other words, YouTube’s users are advertisers, and you are the product.
YouTube doesn’t care about your life goals, values, or mental health. It just cares about having you spend more time on its site. Sure, you may start off watching a video related to your Biology class or on self-improvement. But shortly after, YouTube’s recommendation system, notifications, and feed get you watching addicting movie clips, funny videos, and influencers who probably don’t align with your values. Yet, you continue watching and let the YouTube algorithm direct your life since it makes you feel good — and you can’t really stop.
Here’s how my experience with YouTube has been:
“Let me just watch one video. It’s only 15 minutes long. Oh, look, this video seems pretty cool too. I can’t watch this one when I already watched the last one! Okay, time to focus. But wait, here’s another YouTuber similar to the other one. And his videos have more views and are funnier! Okay, I’ll just watch a few of his videos…”
I’ve always felt like I’ve entered a rabbit hole when I use YouTube. I feel less in control and unproductive since I’m not consuming content that aligns with my life values and goals. And I’m sure that self-improvement YouTubers and YouTube executives know how addicting and unhealthy the platform is. Yet, they don’t change anything since that’s how they all make money.
How much time does the CEO of YouTube or your favorite content creator spend watching videos on the platform? I bet it’s significantly less than people like you or me.
Over time, I’ve learned to regain my control with YouTube through these 3 simple and effective tips.
I use Unhook (which works on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge) to remove YouTube’s Home Feed, Recommendations, and Comments from my YouTube experience. I’m no longer manipulated by YouTube’s algorithms to spend more time on their site. I enter YouTube and search for videos I **want to watch or check in on my favorite creators that align with my life goals and values.
Here’s how my YouTube home page looks (it’s empty 🤩):