Am I a bad person for wanting to go back to YouTube?

[EdgyRabbit]

Alright.

so last week YouTube introduced the ai age system, so I left.

Thing is that now I think I really want to go back on YouTube. IT was the main way I would calm myself from anxiety and from overthinking.

Now I feel bad because I wanna go back to YouTube to calm my nerves. Yes I use the internet archive but its simply not the same.

For context I also use tumblr, and I think the website gave me the idea of; "IF YOU GO BACK TO YOUTUBE, YOURE A BAD PERSON!" and making me feel like I'm a bad actvist for not being able to hold the sensation.

But I think I might go back, but I'd like some opiptions. So do you guys think I should go back to YouTube?

[WK_0]

You're not a bad person for feeling pulled back to Youtube. Firstly, the current scenario's a bit of a weird issue a lot of folks are facing right now. It's not really a surprise that many have grown to become dependent on the platform, which just makes Youtube's current age-verifying implementation all the more insidious in my eyes as they know people will stay no matter what. I know there's folks who not only depend on it as an actual job, but also depend on the platform as a source of need, like in your case. Basically y'all are kinda being forced to really consider between cutting off a valuable resource or dealing with yet another system that's bound to screw you over in time. So again, no, having to make that decision doesn't make you a bad person.

Secondly, a big platform like Tumblr is unfortunately no different from Twitter in how folks tend to recklessly push around these topics. I have seen way too many times in my day how everyone over there posted about either being with or against a side, and how if you're against what they feel is the only good choice than you're as bad as the other side. It's a very narrow way of looking at things. I honestly wouldn't consider these particular viewpoints one bit. They're just being loud for the sake of being loud, in my experience, and if anything they hurt the cause and the people being affected moreso than help it.

Situations like this are always going to have complications to them, and sometimes folks just have to make hard decisions. For example, I'm someone who keeps as far away from Spotify as possible due to how literally evil it is towards musicians at this point, but I don't blame any of my friends who use it. It's a convenient service that has more benefits than costs to them, and for some it's literally the only way they can even listen to and make a living off of their music, though they're well aware of the negatives going on. I don't like making people feel bad that they have to make a bad decision like that. Though it might feel like it, it doesn't make them bad.

Folks like me who already have the means to occupy ourselves in other ways and flip Youtube the double-bird are actually kinda the lucky ones in this case, but anyone who's quick to judge those who aren't so lucky really do need to reconsider where they've set their viewpoints. It's really not easy to just quit a service you've heavily depended on cold turkey, believe me. I definitely commend you for giving it a try for a week, at least.

Now, if the principle of the whole thing still hits you as you go back, and making that change in your routine is something you still feel you wanna do, going forward I would suggest instead try only cutting down a little of your youtube-watching at a time. Instead of quitting cold turkey, every once in a while, on more manageable days, try sampling other means of diverting your attention from your episodes of overthinking and anxiety. From time to time pick a random other activity you feel can hijack some of your focus, like reading an article on a niche topic or a book or a webcomic, cleaning and organising a space in the place you currently occupy, picking up on a side hobby, starting and upkeeping a diary journal, whatever comes to mind that's either on a different website or off the computer. Not everything you try might work, but for now it's a matter of simply finding what does, and as you keep going you can always gradually, at your own pace, cut down more of your youtube useage over time and switch those videos for other things that do work to help manage your anxiety.

That's how I eventually cut down on my own use of Youtube. It's possible, it just takes a bit of time.

[munchlax]

Nothing wrong with using youtube, especially since there are no good alternatives. Also don't let tumblr users decide your self worth.

[majoris]

As the person above has said, YouTube knows that most people, despite how frustrated they might get, will stick with YT. And they're kind of counting on that.

YouTube like most big tech apps is designed to keep you coming back. And it can be kinda hard to fight that. So don't feel bad at all! You can take it a step at a time. Slowly reducing your usage works. Think of it like breaking a bad habit.

I'd say try to use it through FreeTube or Invidious. Both to stay away from the algorithm and AI, but also to help you use it less 

[candycanearter07]

I'd say try to use it through FreeTube or Invidious. Both to stay away from the algorithm and AI, but also to help you use it less 

I'd also add that using an RSS feed on Invidious to follow certain youtubers in a more managable fashion can help some. It's obviously not perfect, but it does help to have a "stack" of videos to watch, that you can take at your own pace. Forcing yourself to do something else once you've watched through some/all of it is tricky, though.

Also, Invidious does tend to go down sometimes, thanks to Youtube super hostility. You can replace the domain name with https://redirect.invidious.io in any invidious url to jump to another one, if needed.


edit: For the record, I also struggled pretty bad at the whole "Quit Youtube" thing, but at the very least, it's justified my hoarding of videos with yt-dlp while I still can.