Why do you watch YouTube?

[dotmidi]

Other than the occasional background video while I knit, I love watching a few select youtubers because it makes me feel young again. The feeling I got from picking up the gaming edition of Guinness world records, the excitement of the few gaming centred shows on TV, the feeling of the scholastic book fair. The few youtubers I watch consistently bring me back to those feelings and I adore it

Cannot put this in better words to be honest, the feeling of opening up/getting the guinness world records book at my school library was like NONE OTHER

[Cele]

It's background noise to me. Something to play in my ears when I'm walking to work or the store, something to play that I'm not focusing on at all while doing something else on the computer. I guess you could say I listen to Youtube rather than watch it. I do have to turn it off if I'm seriously focusing on something. The videos can be whatever shows up in the recommended, but preferably longer videos that don't have anything important going on on the screen. That could be Youtube drama, commentary, book reviews, news/politics, historical tales or someone reading out old Reddit posts.

[SilkSkull]

Cannot put this in better words to be honest, the feeling of opening up/getting the guinness world records book at my school library was like NONE OTHER

There was something so special about them that is so hard to capture. I might get an old one from my local library just for old times sake.

[point0]

I watch only for two channels that uploads Super Mario Bros. X and Mario Forever gameplays. I am not going into outside of any recommendations in yt at all. Everything there is so spammy for me.

[tarraxahum]

I watch a couple of reaction channels mainly. Because I have this thing where when I've watched something and really liked it, I immediately want to re-live those first time emotions by showing it to someone else. And once all my friends either watched it or ran away sufficiently far enough, but I'm still not satisfied - I go to YouTube reactions for the same effect of watching a thing you like with someone else while intently observing their reaction. I have a couple of youtubers who react "the right way", so once they're watching something that I like - I'm there, lol.

I also like a couple of channels with "quirky internet lore" like Izzzyzzz and Strange Aeons, for, well, the quirky internet lore and the adjacent content. I don't listen to podcasts - don't have the attention span - so these kinds of essays work well instead sometimes

[princemaggots]

Mostly I watch long-form video essays (like Shanspeare, F.D Signifier, etc). These are mostly interesting background noise, though I do like the points they bring up. That or ofherbsandaltars, whom I mainly watch for their stories and because I like their voice and thoughts on things. Every once in a while, I'll watch Plumbella, who's a sims youtuber I mainly watch because she's fun - though I originally got into her for her sims 4 content. I will say Plumbella's the only one I really watch as opposed to just listening for the most part, as the type of videos I watch tend to be more reliant on audio rather than visual content.

[TYOMA !!]

Personally I mainly use Youtube as a way to sorta... open my mind and think more deeply about things. I love watching loooong video essays about things I may or may not be familiar with and hear about how someone deeply connects to it. Action Button and hazel are my main examples where they can take something I can't say I ever really cared about (i.e. Tokimeki Memorial or Elfen Lied) and make them seem extremely compelling to me. I also like finding videos that explore things I already care about in great depth because I find I'm not always able to find other people to talk to about them. I recently found Quality Culture's video going over how Kendrick Lamar's entire career led up to his most recent album (which I had privately been going crazy over) and I felt an immense wave of validation hearing someone else talk about his work and what it all means.

Other than that there are a few creators who post infrequently who I always try to keep an eye out for - like Brutalmoose! Personally I find his videos very soothing and cozy, which fits with a lot of other creators I look out for. I also follow ManlyBadassHero's videos pretty often. I'm a big weenie when it comes to horror games even though I love them, and also I'm not a very good gamer, so watching his completionist LPs with such calm narration is a real treat. Occasionally he finds these real gems like Who's Lila that I never would have discovered otherwise!

The rest of my use is around friends and family who always wanna watch something when we're together... so I usually have a lot of relevant shitposts laying around in a playlist that I can just put on when we get bored. Can't be serious all the time!

[debleb]

mostly, i just watch it for background noise and cuz there aren’t really any good competitors with much good content. i’m quite rarely JUST watching a youtube video. i like to listen to video essays about science, computers etc mostly but i also watch a couple gaming youtubers n stuff. i also like to listen to music there bc a lot of the video game sound tracks i like aren’t anywhere but decade old youtube vids.

[ThySonnet190]

For me, it is freemium TV. I get to choose what I want to watch and when I watch it.

Nailed it to a tee for me right here.

This is why I like it so much. I can watch anything from analysis videos on Middle English poems all the way to someone playing a video game I really love. It has it all on one platform which makes it ridiculously easy to just sit and watch all kinds of content at all times of the day. Is it good for me to have this much entertainment this easily? Probably not. However, I love the site to death and it serves as one of my best sources of casual entertainment at the expense of my precious time.

[Tiffany]

It's entertainment, I use to really not be into youtube until about the last two years. I feel like in a way it's an uncensored version of some we see on tv so it allows these content creators to dive deeper than normal, for example a lot of the personalities who make true crime content.
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It also shows us a lot of what we don't see on Youtube like commentary on fandom and fandom history, or the tarot community and commentary. A lot of what I like that draws me in is the content creators' personalities though.

[Skykristal]

I myself also like to rewatch videos over and over. But it used to be more intense in the past. I noticed how my interests always change a lot. Once I literally watched something 4 times in a row (yes really lmao).
I love commentary/opinions/reacts, tech, occasionally coding cool stuff, animals etc. YouTube is something I often also use for simple background noise. Especially when drawing I pretty much always need something in the background.

I am also a YouTube shorts consumer. I dislike tiktok and for that reason don't use it. I like the shorts and often scroll through when I wanna watch quick content. It only shows me stuff I actually like so that's good. I remember thier algorithm being super broken not too long a go. Glad this was fixed after a week or two. I missed watching quick vids at night because of how unusable it got.

[fizzylimesoda]

I watch YouTube because it's the first social media I've explored.

Mostly I watch memes (that are unfunny), nostalgic videos, and if it's Saturday I watch SMG4!

[ennui]

i like watching vlogs, it's soothing in its own way. i like seeing what other people do in their daily lives, no matter how "mundane" it may seem. bonus points if it's somebody in another country.

a few years back i was always watching older concerts from the 80s-90s. most of the music i listen to is from that time period so it was cool seeing what i missed especially if that band is no longer together or the original lineup no longer exists because of a death. even tho at times it sparked a terrible longing that made me depressed.

[shevek]

I also like a bit of longform content. I work better when I can listen to stuff being explained and I actually listen, it is not just background noise to me. I just need something for the mind while I do mundane stuff to enter a flow state. At work I stick to a podcast, and I do lots of my art during DnD online sessions, but during my hobby projects, I put on specific YouTube channels. I like analyses and deep dives/explanations and summaries of weird internet phenomenons and older tech/web the most, but also some philosophical content. So I mostly watch Izzzyzzz, PlushiePath, Li Speaks, Mina Le, OliSUNvia, Eternalised. I also like livestreams of Lego (and similar companies) sets being built.

It's also because I have my most productive times from 10pm to 4am, and it helps to not feel too alone during that time. I enjoy the quiet, dark, and not being bothered by anyone, but I don't want it to be too eerie.

[doubleincision]

YouTube is the only place i'm aware of where i can watch queer content from queer creators without having to pay a megacorporation a subscription fee it's unfortunate that they don't really have anywhere else to go, since YouTube has a stinky history of censoring and punishing its queer video creators, but there are some fantastic channels over there. Kaz Rowe and James Somerton both come to mind immediately when i think of queer people publishing excellent videos, for free, on YouTube