Thoughts on modern Youtube culture

[Memory]

I just don't have the attention span anymore to actually watch a lot of videos anymore. I can't stand 90% of things out there and the things that I do, I really have to be in the mood for.

[Spots]

Regrettably, a good chunk of the stuff I've watched on YouTube since around 2017 has been drama-related content. I used to be more into it back then, but I still stay somewhat up-to-date. I think the platform's obsession with drama is definitely a bad thing overall, but I can't help but be somewhat entertained by it. I feel like YouTube drama used to be more funny and petty back in 2016-2017 and nowadays it's more like people being exposed for doing actually horrid and illegal things. I wish we could at least go back to the days where most of the drama was just immature adults beefing with each other for stupid reasons and making cringy diss tracks instead of committing crimes against humanity. I suppose that in an era where YouTubers are so connected to their fanbases and each other and are resembling legitimate celebrities, the quality of their character starts to matter more than it did back in the really old days of YouTube.

[Memory]

I wish we could at least go back to the days where most of the drama was just immature adults beefing with each other for stupid reasons and making cringy diss tracks instead of committing crimes against humanity.

I think it's less that YouTubers did less fucked up shit back then, but more that people now hold them responsible for it instead of considering it hating because they're big celebrities with a fanbase that encompasses more than cishet white male teenagers who love edginess.

In the past you'd be laughed at, ridiculed, harassed or attacked for trying to expose a YouTuber who does terrible stuff, and the fans would celebrate. Big part of old YouTube was "triggered feminist compilations" and similar content, clearly showing how their entire point was "if you care about being a good person, you're cringe because you care too much and aren't as cool and stoic as me".

[Swiftpaw]

Something I've noticed about videos in general are the amount of focus on monetization. It makes sense, videos are a hard medium to create for, but it's unavoidable both if you're interested in making videos and if you're watching them.

I've tried to train my YouTube algorithm to mostly show me videos with under 100k views, so that way I get a little more diversity. Usually the smaller videos are a little closer to what I remember with older YouTube with it being mostly people creating things for fun instead of capitalism.

I understand why people make videos for money though, and I know that there are people who have it as a career and there are quite a few people I watch who fall under that category, I just wish it wasn't everywhere.

I've been meaning to try to switch away from using YouTube, but it's yet another pitfall of the modern internet and ADHD. It's a quick and easy way for my brain to get dopamine in the background while I do other things.

[dozzleDsnozzler]

i use it mainly for background noise. youtube is weird to me because it's been thru all the blights of the modern internet and just kept standing because it's really the only site of it's kind worth using. youtube had the advantage of being the first video site so it has a decade and a half of videos, history and community. but it still hasn't replaced television or movies, despite what many ppl thought back in the day, it's just kind of it's very own thing. i don't like using youtube, i think a lot of the trends and changes have been for the worse, ESPECIALLY youtube shorts. google runs youtube at a loss, so you constantly see ads if you use the mobile app. i counted, they display one ad video in your recommended every five regular ones.

lol not really my thoughts on modern youtube CULTURE more so just modern youtube in general

[creaturefeature]

I´ve pretty much use an exntension that where it automatically directs me to channels i´ve already subscribed instead of the front page that way I only see what i´m only interested inseeing.

I also recommend the newpipe app for mobile, no ads and you can export the list of channel you´re subscribed to there.

[starbreaker]

I don't even know what "modern YouTube culture" is. I only use the site for music videos.

[musicobsessed107]

As someone who has been using YouTube since late 2012, the site feels a lot different now than it did 12 years ago, and not in a very good way either.

2012 YouTube may not have been perfect (especially since that was the year they removed custom profile layouts), but it was a hell of a lot better than 2024 YouTube. You had more originality and creativity on the platform back then as opposed to now where everyone's doing the exact same thing, solely trying to pander to the algorithm for more clicks and to avoid being demonetized. The one thing I love about older YouTube videos is that they were made by random people just goofing off and having fun in their spare time. You didn't have people treating YouTube as if it were a job or something. You don't really see those types of videos being made anymore, unfortunately.

Something that also annoys me about many contemporary video essay videos is how the creators of those videos add in WAY too many cuts into their videos, where each scene lasts maybe about 5 seconds or so before quickly moving onto the next, rinse and repeat with each clip or image. I can't stand to watch those videos as I find the fast pacing quite overstimulating (maybe the creators figured that the majority of people out there have had their attention spans obliterated by the short form content epidemic currently going on right now, I don't know). It makes it nearly impossible to focus on the actual message of the video when cuts are being spammed into it with the blink of an eye.

To say the least, I'm not a fan of modern YouTube. Certain extensions like uBlock Origin, Return YouTube Dislike, Shorts Block, and YouTube Redux make it bearable to use as well as sticking to videos that still have the homemade and amateur feel to them.