YouTube Shorts - You’re mildly infuriating!
Ever since I was forced to update YouTube on my devices, I got really annoyed with YouTube Shorts. At first, they were easily turned off. Then the option to turn them off disappeared from Settings - General. So I installed apps that allowed to skip out on Shorts. Then just a few days ago I could no longer have Youtube Vanced installed.
I’ve since learned do deal with this annoyance, but do I really have to mark “Not Interested” from channels I don’t subscribe to or “Hide” from my subscribed channels? On my Linux- and Windows PC’s I have regular blockers. But I mainly watch content on devices hooked up as small entertainment screens in the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms. And those are iOS or Android.
All I want are steady streams of content from my favourite relaxing subjects and channels. Without shorts or AI-derived “Hey, this video from a channel featuring a redneck with 15 AR-15’s shooting coyotes in the desert might be your thing!” inserted into my playlists or streams. But the AI-derived autoplay content is beside the point.
YouTube Shorts - You’re mildly infuriating!
There is one thing about it being voluntary to create. But they’re pushing YT Shorts down both content creators and viewers throats.
As a former teacher and mentor, I agree with the thought to make content more interesting and digestible for the younger generation. What I don’t agree with is packaging everything into mindless kick-rewarding (dopamine hitting) bits, like Candy Crush, One armed bandits or Tik Tok videos.
If you package too much study content into this kind of easily digestible and forgettable bits, you have to remember: it flows out from their minds almost as fast as they spent the effort to see it… maybe it lasted longer if they shared it with their friends/network, but the lesson you wanted them to absorb will mostly disappear faster than the time it took you to create it.
We work (and should work) to create (at least some) lasting impressions that educate. The most memorable moment that one of my study groups had with one of their “cool TikTok and Fortnite savvy” teachers was when they did candy flossing after it stopped being cool. What lessons he taught? They couldn’t remember if it was English or Math.
Sorry for my rant. I digressed.
I love the rant. Titrating (pardon the pun) content to kids and having them engage properly is such a big battle.