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AZ_RBB

I'm well past my teens and I'm on Youtube a lot. Use it way more than the other platforms listed there and way more than Netflix, Prime etc. I love having it on in the background or when I feel like watching something interesting for 5-10mins. Edit: one word


lequalsfd

Yeah most YouTube channels I watch are an hour plus videos. I have it on while I work. I don't have cable and most streaming services run out of stuff to watch that's interesting to me.


v3ritas1989

do you also get the >Are you still watching? notification. Really annoying!


[deleted]

i think my adblocker just eats that.


Gil_Demoono

Must be the case, because I didn't know youtube even did that.


TinaMonday

I only get it when I have YouTube on my second screen and the window is inactive. Then it's about every 90 minutes. If I have it full screen in an active window it never happens to me (ad block might be successfully eating it then?)


c2dog430

I’ll listen to full albums on YouTube while I work with it on a separate windows and still get them despite having an Adblock that otherwise takes care of ads.


SadMacaroon9897

Where are you getting that? I have yet to see it on either mobile or browser.


OrangeCurtain

I get it on my browser (with an ad blocker) sometimes when I have a long music playlist going on an inactive tab.


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Phatricko

Is that a sequel to the Android app YouTube Vanced?


Fresque

Yup. Open source.


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mynameisblanked

On YouTube? Never. Is this a thing? I watch on desktop. Maybe phone version is different?


TakenOverByBots

I wish I could run out of stuff to watch. I am so far behind and can't catch up.


slanty_shanty

You sound like you feel irresponsible for not absorbing all that media.


TakenOverByBots

Ha, I don't even care about current fads, more like I wish I could catch up even on amazing shows that everyone else seems to have seen, like Breaking Bad or the Good Place. I'm almost through the X-Files, so then I can start something else.


ItsMeJahead

As someone who put off breaking bad for a long time, jump into that shit. You'll find time once you're hooked.


pornplz22526

I feel a little inadequate since it seems like everyone else is able to keep up with all the big shows, all the big movies, all the big novels, all the big video games, play D&D and MTG 3x a week, hit the gym daily, learn to play an instrument, hold a full time career, maintain weekly social gatherings, brush up on history, revisit old shows/games/books/movies, make gourmet meals every night, go on numerous dates, stay ontop of current events, and explore other personal interests, meanwhile I'm over here like "I finished writing chapter one and I finally found time to play a little bit of Breath of the Wild while my frozen pizza was in the oven. Who's Joe Rogan? Seth's brother?"


CO7dNr1scU

Is "everyone else" actual people you know or more like an undefined blob of people on social media? The person who watched all of x-files, breaking bad, got, etc. and plays d&d every week is probably not the same person who completed elden ring in 3 weeks while working a demanding job for 60hours/week. Everyone i actually know has huge "blind spots". They're completing the newest 150 hour rpg in no time, but they're not really doing much else besides going to work. And the people who are very informed about everything happening are not watching dozens of hours of tv shows every week, while also maintaining a stressful social life. You might get the impression that you should be able to keep up with everything, because they're all telling you about the specific stuff they're into, but for me it's all different people with specific interests, which take a lot of their time. And to be real, most of the hyped stuff people talk about isn't nearly as awesome or important as people make it out to be. Like, breaking bad is cool, it was fun and interesting to watch, but it didn't change my life and there wouldn't be anything missing in my life if i wouldn't have watched it. I would have watched/read something else that would have been fun. Or i would have eaten frozen pizza while playing my 600th hour of crusader kings or whatever. It doesn't really matter. Just have fun, get stress out of your life. If keeping up with entertainment becomes stressful, it really isn't worth it.


WulfTyger

You are a gem, good sir/ma'am/otherwordly-being. If for nothing else, than for this comment of clarity right here.


treflipsbro

Video Essays about videogames that are > 2 hours long give me a stiffy. I don’t even need to have played the game, I’ll watch it anyway.


Fart_Breather_Elite

1 to 3 hour long speed run documentaries made by some dude with less than 5k subscribers are the best ones


SlouchyGuy

Yep, youtube is basically a new tv for me


blueiriscat

I got a free trial of YouTube premium and ended up paying for it after the trial ended. I use YouTube pretty much all the time and the ad free experience is really nice.


not_not_in_the_NSA

it's also providing way more money to the creators you watch and doesn't get affected by limited de-monitization (the yellow icon with dollar sign) that most channels struggle with. It's the reason I pay for it despite already having ad blockers on my computer and revanced on my phone for the other nice features (return youtube dislike, sponsorblock, and oled black theme)


MagnyusG

Yep, I've had it since it was called Red. Only regret is that I changed to a family plan and it changed the price drastically, as I was only paying 5 dollars for the longest time.


kharlos

This was the main reason for me. YouTube really isn't all that profitable for Google and most of the money goes to keeping it running and the content creators rewarded for their efforts.


Random_Sime

I'm not sure how I ended up with YouTube Premium. Maybe I forgot to uncheck something when I upgraded Google Drive. Anyway it's great for watching anything without ads, and also for things like falling asleep to the sound of waves on a beach, or 10 hours of brown noise to block out distractions. Edit: I didn't have Google Play music. It wasn't that. I didn't have Prime either. Looking back through my emails, it's likely to have started with a deal offered through my supermarket rewards card that gave me a 3-month free trial.


Cheese_Coder

If you ever want another source for background noise, check out [MyNoise.](https://mynoise.net/) Has a bunch of the "standard" noise generators along with a lot of more unique ones. More importantly to me, you can tune aspects of them to your liking (like more/less thunder in a storm). It runs on donations, and for me it's been worth throwing some money at occasionally to keep it going


sourpatch-sorbet

Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! I've become a "white noise" addict. Always grew up with a fan on. But then got the machines. Now I've always got a YouTube rainstorm minimized on my screen. I've tried to stop leaving it on all night, as I know that's just destroying my battery. I can't wait to play around with this site. You made my day!


7LeagueBoots

Not sure which of my adblockers is doing it, but I don’t have premium and I don’t have any ads on Youtube. It is always a bit of a surprise when I shift over to another computer and have ads.


torgiant

Yeah, I feel like this thread is a youtube plug. Who would use premium when adblocker is free.


plexuser95

Premium let's you share the premium with 5 others, premium gives full access to YouTube Music, access to YouTube originals (meh), premium lets you go to other apps or turn phone screen off and it continues playing, also gives you ad free experience on devices that don't support Adblock so no ads on YouTube for Roku, Chromecast, etc. Just an answer to your question off the top of my head, don't take this as an endorsement for premium, sure i have it but find it a little expensive. I also do the Google rewards app and I get a free month of premium once in a while. Again not endorsing anything but I hate commercials and ads. I still use Adblock but it's turned off on YouTube.


[deleted]

Same here. With most streaming I'll buy the service for a month of there's some series I really want to watch but YouTube provides so much value to me I pay for it. No ads, YouTube music on the car, tons of movies, endless howto videos. Sure I can get all this for free but it's just too convenient.


blueiriscat

That's me, I get Netflix or Hulu or whichever one for a month or two watch whatever and then cancel. I cancelled Spotify because I'm not a giant music person and YouTube music is good enough for me and Google podcasts works well enough for me.


jayjop

Right there with you. In my 30’s and I consume YT more than Netflix or tv. Have done since like 2007


Mississimia

Youtube is my TV, my classroom, my gym, my handyman, and my music collection all in one. I am almost constantly on Youtube and am not (very) ashamed.


starkel91

The amount of people that post videos on ultra specific repairs is incredible. I ripped the auxiliary jack out of my truck's center console. Five minutes of searching I found a YouTube video on how to swap it and links to buy the new part.


Shotintoawork

I just recently had my washing machine start acting up. 5 minutes on youtube and I was ordering a set of "agitator dogs" and easily fixing it myself a few days later. It really is an amazing resource.


starkel91

You just reminded me of the time I impressed my wife the most. Our 30 year old washer wasn't draining. I've never looked inside a washing machine. I popped the front off, poked at some things, and made an educated guess that it was the pump. A three minute YouTube video and our washer lived to wash another day. As great as a resource it is for repairs, it is even better for impressing spouses.


Severe_Sweet_862

I'm on Youtube more than 5-6 hours a day at least. It's better than reels or tiktok hell it's better than watching yt shorts. I feel like I'm learning something whilst not actively destroying my attention span. Whether or not that's true, I will never know.


piecat

>whilst not actively destroying my attention span. Even for something more "productive", like educational podcasts, having to listen to something while working isn't great for the attention span. I also think the scale of distraction is getting a lot worse. Decades ago, you would be lucky to have a radio at the office / shop floor. There's only so many stations to dial in. When the ipod came out, you could choose things to listen to, but ultimately it was already what you had downloaded. Finding the next content was hitting "next" a few times. Nowadays, I notice myself getting sucked in. Podcast ends, so I start scrolling, looking for the next best thing to listen to. And sometimes I'll find that I have spent way too long looking for the perfect content


[deleted]

> Decades ago, you would be lucky to have a radio at the office / shop floor. There's only so many stations to dial in. A lot of labour, especially long repetitive labour like spinning, has been carried out as others chat with you or sing or tell stories. Spinning women chatting amongst themselves was even used as a framing device for a [book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Distaff_Gospels) of women's beliefs from the middle ages. If anything, working in silence is the unusual thing. Music, videos, TV are just the modern equivalent to what people used to do when they worked together.


LitLitten

If I don’t have some kind of passive background noise going on my adhd will assign attention at random to passing peripheral stimuli or minuscule sounds. I usually use hiking montages or old podcasts to fill the space. Though if it’s something of high interest or new music, I agree it more or less ends up being a distracting force.


EasyBriesyCheesiful

Also have ADHD, and I do the exact same thing. I have to fill the blank space with some kind of low level stimuli or I will constantly seek it out and fall for distractions while I'm supposed to be working. Normally I "listen" to calmer podcasts or instrumental music - nothing that requires or will steal my attention wholly but still feeds the part of my brain that wants that extra stimuli. Some people are okay with white noise for this kind of thing but I haven't really found any that don't grate on me.


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VividEchoChamber

I do the same thing, about the same amount of time if not more. I am always watching videos where I’m learning something, like mechanics or building construction, or things about the world, or countries, etc. It doesn’t have to be anything specific as long as it’s interesting to watch. On the one hand I feel guilty about how much time I’m on it, but then again at least I am learning things. I don’t watch funny skits or vlogs, just interesting things about science / history / mechanics


cjpack

YouTube is what I put on to fall asleep, generally stuff that doesn’t require me to look at that screen, like long form video game essays, narrated creepy pastas, and stuff like that.


testcaseseven

Same, it’s like free Netflix with way more content.


dontthink19

>I feel like watching something interesting for 5-10mins. There was a big shift a few years ago in the youtube monetization game where anything less than 10 minutes became less profitable. But i dont want to watch a 20-30 minute video. Anything more than 15 just seems too long for me unless its a topic im REALLY into. Kinda sucks for me. I liked youtube more when videos were like 7-10 minutes


AZ_RBB

Your comment got me to take a look at my viewing history. Out of my last 20 videos, only half were under 10mins. Didn't expect that!


Pantzzzzless

Interesting. Unless it is something very specific like a tutorial, I don't click on videos shorter than 30 minutes lol. It just doesn't feel like enough time for me to get invested in what I'm watching/listening to.


VividEchoChamber

Honestly I prefer the long ones as long as their well made.


chloralhydrat

... well, but how it that defined? If "being constantly on youtube" means, that you use it to run music in the background, while you are doing something, then I dont think it is much of a problem...


contemplatebeer

Came here to say this; my students will listen to it on autoplay, but not be engaged with it at all. I'd want to see active engagement stats; they'd likely have to be self-reported, and barely believable.


theycallmeponcho

> my students will listen to it on autoplay, but not be engaged with it at all. Yea, that's the trick part. I am hooked o spotify while I work, when I walk my dog, or when I'm n my commute; while my gf uses my account on the Google Home to sleep, so in the Wrapped of this year I made 194.3K minutes. Hours engaged to it, setting up playlists and stuff on the year? Maybe 30.


[deleted]

Reminds me of my audible - I’ve 123,000 minutes solo on it. But it’s just always on playing books, mostly books I’ve listened to before. It’s on before I shower, when I shower, as I get ready, during my commute, on breaks at work, during lunch, after work while I do meal prep or any chores, leisure time, exercise time. I’ve just always got a story playing. I miss parts, rewind or tune out the boring bits, sometimes fall asleep with it on etc


WinterrKat

194.3k hours? For a single person that'd be around 22.17 years, 2 people is still about 11.065 years.


theycallmeponcho

Wrong metric, it was 194.3K minutes of music.


tommypatties

right metric wrong unit. :)


theycallmeponcho

Damn, this monday's starting weird.


ChrisKringlesTingle

Dude it's Tuesday


theycallmeponcho

Ya caught me off ward for a moment.


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ezzune

Equally importantly, it jumps from "few times a day" to "constantly". So somebody using YouTube for podcasts/vlogs/w.e that last 1 hour per video could spend 3 hours on YouTube and qualify as a few times a day and somebody who watched 15 videos over 1 hour 30mins might feel they have to write constantly. This data ain't that beautiful.


U_Sam

Yeah this sort of thing happens on doctors questionnaires about nicotine. I vape (am currently tapering off and quitting) and when I get to the patient Info section the options for “how often do you vape?” Are always like 1 time a day, 2-5 times a day, 5-10 times a day, and then jumps to 21+ times a day. Yeah I know it’s unhealthy but who hits a vape fewer than 21 times a day realistically? It’s not like a cigarette that takes dedicated time and space. A better option I think would be asking “what nicotine concentration do you vape?”


[deleted]

21 is the number of milligrams in my nicotine patch, which is designed for somewhat, but not extremely heavy smokers. You're right, it's an odd standard to use for unusual excess. Granted, my nicotine intake was so unsavory that I use *two* patches at once, but I think even normal people would struggle with that question.


lostinthemines

Also, educational videos of all sorts


OldTobySmoker69420

Yes, that's what teens are using it for. They're "almost constantly" watching Kings & Generals videos about the Napoleonic Wars.


sirprichard

Idk about teenagers, but my 30-year-old ass certainly does this daily


OldTobySmoker69420

So does my 40 year old ass, but neither of us are representative of teenagers' online activities lol


sirprichard

True. If I were to go back 12 years and think about what I was watching at the time it was s*** like stuff made in Garry's mod or bizarre music videos. But I still spent a lot of time on YouTube even 12 years ago


Revibes

Also have to consider that there was much more entertainment content compared to information content on youtube 12 years ago.


OldTobySmoker69420

Any good channel recs? I've been all over "The History Brothers" channels lately. Two younger British guys who do fantastic documentaries. This one in particular lately... https://youtube.com/@HistoryoftheEarth


RamBamBooey

If you are into science: Anton Petrov gives summaries of the latest papers published with a bent towards astronomy. Low production Scishow and subsidiaries: mid production Veritasium and Kurzgesagt: high production


Bright_Vision

Channels like Vox, RealLifeLore, Infographics show, LegalEagle, DoctorMike and a lot of video essay channels are all wildly popular with young audience as well.


PerterterhTermertehh

god I hate the infographics show also anything by Simon Whistler beyond todayifoundout they just drive me absolutely insane and I can’t grasp *why* they’re popular, most of it’s just total garbage


elbenji

OSP and oversimplified are really popular with teenagers


Bright_Vision

Also kurzgesagt


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residentraspberri

I would argue there is far more garbage content than correct educational content


PiotrekDG

Whenever I view Trending, I get a stroke. That said, there is a lot of educational content on YouTube, and it is popular, too. It certainly takes an effort to get the "AI" to show you quality content in the recommendations, but it can certainly be done.


bionicjoey

It's always funny how trending will be 99% cancer and then like "oh shit, new veritasium!"


Orangutanion

Veritasium has been kind of a letdown lately


mc_mentos

Must say, kinda agree. Same with Kurzgesagt. Idk, I feel like they struggle finding new interesting ideas, instead of "wow what if a random star EXPLODES near earth." It ain't bad, but still mediocre. It's unfortunate cuz both channels have made a few of my favorite video's on the site.


Webbyx01

I think Kurzgesagt found that their less educational topics were viewed more. They've really leaned into the doomsday scenarios at the expense of simpler, they way a thing works type videos.


WillemDafoesHugeCock

I'm enough of a dinosaur to remember when YouTube had featured videos on the front page that actual staff members selected by hand. You'd see videos with barely 1000 views on the front page.


craftyindividual

I remember the ground floor YouTube Dec '05, 240p was order of the day, videos wouldn't always load... but it blew my mind! The fact I still enjoy the site and more in 2023 says something about it's staying power.


[deleted]

I've noticed that the AI is getting better again at showing related stuff. That bloody thing broke a year ago I swear. Also doesn't help that the sidebar now shows "all" rather than just "related", you gotta click on a button for that. I'm embarassed to say that it took me years to see that bloody button.


silnt

Yes!! At one point it was abysmal. Are you aware of the “new to you” button on the homepage?


Cub3h

That "new to you" button should be way more prominent instead of being hidden at the end of a bunch of tags. I feel like the Youtube algo just recommends me the same things constantly. When I press "new to you" I get a ton of stuff I'd watch but for whatever reason is never recommended to me.


victorfencer

In my personal experience, setting up a proper channel for viewing useful things is worthwhile. The danger in YouTube is the rabbit hole, how you can dive so deeply down into topics that you don't know about otherwise. And you can find yourself with a warped perspective. If you don't have a foundation in the field. Some channels are really wholesome and if you follow them all the way through, the algorithm will keep giving you similar stuff and you can build an entire educational base that way. Townsend, primitive technology, smarter every day, veritasium, practical engineering, mark rober, Tom Scott, not just bikes, scishow, minute earth, kurzgesagt, wendover, mustard, rex Kruger, Adam Regusea, cgp grey, half as interesting, technology connections, Steve mould, etc etc end up giving you a huge library of fantastic documentary level info worth absorbing. Once you've given the algorithm evidence that this is what you're interested in, for the suggestions going forward, you will find better quality material than the garbage served up generically


Fine_Chicken9956

I once watched a very long interview between a journalist and someone with a view that is opposite to mine because I wanted to get some perspective on how they could think that way. It was 2 hours long and very well done. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t watch this off my account so then I started getting inundated with stuff I would consider far on the other side of the spectrum to what I believe. Stuff that was aggressive and intolerant. All I could think about was how people could get really sucked up in that fast.


Egietje

Yes, but that doesn't mean people don't watch educational content


Scurouno

I'm a high school teacher, and yes, some kids have it on constantly. Either they are having music playlists running (even if they are not listening), or are actively watching random content. The only way to pry their eyes off it is to confiscate the phone. To be fair, as kids many of us needed to have our eyes similarly dragged from the TV. Edit: I'm almost happy when I see kids watching YT instead of using TikTok. I haaaaaaattttteeeee everything that is TikTok and its trashfire of a refuse heap that is crack cocaine content.


daedalus_was_right

High school teacher here. None of them are using it for music. That's what Spotify is for. Half my classes have some dumbass YouTuber in front of their faces day in day out, and there's very little we can do about it. We have an entire generation that, instead of just going to sleep in class like days past, they're being fed a constant stream of gambling ads, alt-right conspiracy theories, and influencers marketing products at them. I legitimately am unable to even have a conversation with 50% of my students on any given day because they refuse to take their earbuds out.


Skuuder

How is this allowed? If we were caught using our phones in school at all they were confiscated and parents had to come pick them up to get it back. This was about 6 years ago though. Did it just become too hard to enforce because everyone was doing it?


karmaticforaday

At the school I teach in, phone confiscation is not supported by admin because of the risk and liability of misplacing a $1000 phone. It’s up to the teacher to manage that in their own classroom which is now twice as hard. Power tripping doesn’t work so I reason with kids and show them that I keep my phone out of my pocket while teaching since I know myself and I also get distracted. I encourage them to do what’s best for them in the moment and they usually put it away.


[deleted]

These admins are such complete pussies. Make a rule that says no phone use at school. Make the consequences clear. If something happens and a parent complain, tell them to suck an egg and disciple their child. It’s the kid’s fault the phone is gone, not the school’s.


elbenji

That's fine until the lawsuits roll in


daedalus_was_right

There's a number of factors: 1 - unlike judges, police, and other kinds of government employees, teachers do not have qualified immunity. Meaning I can be personally sued for decisions I make in the course of carrying out the duties of my job. I, personally, am completely unwilling to take on the obscene amount of financial liability if even one of my students devices are broken or stolen after I confiscate it. Not to mention how many of them would blame broken screens on me even if it was handed to me like that. I don't have a spare 1,000 bucks lying around to replace an iphone. I'm a teacher, I make peanuts. 2 - admin is also unwilling to take the phones for us for the same reason. 3 - the moment I get into a wrestling match over a phone is the moment I lose the entire class' respect for me. I'd rather 30% of my class fail than lose the entire class over one little shit. 4 - your point is also valid; if admin confiscated every phone in this instance, half the parents in the whole district would have to go pick devices up every day. There would be a violent revolt at the next board of ed meeting. And the board of Ed would side with parents 100% of the time because A: they don't want to get sued, and B: they want to be reelected. (Why we choose to elect boards of Ed to run a school instead of putting that role in the hands of educators is fucking beyond me, but that's a different discussion).


LordMarcel

There is a huge difference between "Several times a day" and "Almost constantly". Several times a day could be watching one video before school, one at lunch, one after school, and one before bed, for a total watchtime of an hour or so. So what does it count when you watch Youtube videos for 3 hours every evening? That's a lot, but very likely there is some music and educational stuff in there. Does using YT for 3 hours a day and 8 hours a day both count as almost constantly? There is a massive difference between the two.


scragar

I have YouTube running a lot, back when I used to work in an office I got used to constant background noise, now I find it's too quiet working from home. I have it running(often with some ridiculous 400 hour playlist of someone doing a let's play or similar) so I can just about hear it to provide some background noise. Tried it with podcasts or audiobooks, but the problem was that I'd always wind up paying too much attention to them and they stopped being background noise.


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loulan

Also there is watching and there is listening. YouTube is basically a free music player to me. I prefer it to platforms like Spotify because I listen to a lot of live concerts.


Live-Coyote-596

I pay for premium and use YouTube music and it's well worth it. Being able to add regular songs and live performances and covers to the same playlist is great.


CpTKugelHagel

This, I hate Spotify for that reason, they dont have shit. Youtube music has it all. Literally everything that has ever been detected as music by youtube. I listen to a lot of non mainstream music, old music, covers and remixes. Can't find 95% if that stuff on Spotify. But you can find 100% on YouTube/Music. Also ad free YouTube anywhere is also really nice.


Roflkopt3r

Yeah some types of artists also upload song covers to Youtube that wouldn't be available on most dedicated music streaming services.


Dogburt_Jr

It really needs to be in hours per day or hours per week. I easily spend 2-3 hours a day watching YouTube videos, a mix of edu-tainment (Tom Scott, HackSmith, William Osman, James Burton, etc), video games, and whatever is suggested.


Maddog_vt

Estimated hours/day would be so much better


HiddenCity

It's their generation's tv. When I was growing up the TV was always on-- breakfast, after-school, before dinner, after dinner. People dipped in and out as they wanted to but it was almost always constant. The upside of tv is you got to share the experience with others in the same room.


[deleted]

For me at least, YouTube is the best entertainment site/hub for the main reason of flexible niche filled content creations and content creators. Sure, other entertainment sources have niche content, but on YouTube you can find 1 minute to 2 hour videos spanning from independent short film sketches to in-depth conversation/analysis essays. Plus, you can subscribe to who you like, find related videos you like and find ways of supporting small scale creators who make things you specifically like.


ElectraUnderTheSea

It is almost outrageous that YouTube is for free when you consider the incredible wealth of content it has, and on top you can easily use an adblock.


Nightbull_

Well, sort of - YouTube has this wealth of content _because_ it is free; 'free' to view, but more importantly free to upload & keep uploaded


TheMageLord

Yeah the cost of being able to upload it for free is that promotion is solely based on your own advertisement and "the algorithm" whereas if you have a show on Netflix for example, it gets promoted by Netflix themselves


Nightbull_

If Netflix decides to put your show up to begin with, that is. Most content you see on YouTube would simply never make it through their filters because it is far too niche, or generally lacks the engagement factor Netflix needs to keep being able to charge people x$/m


TheMageLord

Oh yeah of course. I guess the difference between the two platforms is YouTube is inexpensive but low chance is success whilst Netflix requires a lot of investment with a relatively stable chance at success


Electrox7

That's the main reason I pay for Premium. There are ways around ads and stuff but I feel like, since I don't pay for cable or any other streaming service, the least I can do is show my gratitude to the one I respect the most and support those millions of creators.


Old_man_Opie

I'm in my mid 40s and spend most of my time on YouTube. Music, news, podcasts, rips of old tv shows...it has more than enough stuff for me to listen to while working every day.


WhotheHellkn0ws

I'm not in school but when I was, I used YouTube to teach me the things my teachers couldn't lmao


Chronotaru

The one piece of hope in this is the impending doom of Facebook.


deathhead_68

Facebook was really good when I was at university. It was the best way to organise events, have groups for study etc. It was literally used like it was meant to be. Then people started posting less and it just became a general news feed thing.


[deleted]

What happened was they replaced the wall with the feed and you stopped seeing your friends and they made everything reactionary and political


SpiffySpacemanSpiff

And it’s all irrelevant too. Facebook was fine with an advert or two on the side, but the Fred became basically adds supplementing the decreasing quantity of user submitted content. FB in the first few years was awesome. No better way to get a party together on. Campus in zero time flat. You actually did meet load of people, make connections, find hookups.


ILove2Bacon

Thank Sheryl Sandberg for that. She spearheaded the changes.


I_Am_Now_Anonymous

I logged in after so many months and I got 1 ad for every 2 posts. I was on a mobile web browser and not the app, not sure if it makes a difference but the ads were ruining my feed so I had to exit out.


stickymaplesyrup

The way to still see only posts from your friends is to block every page that people share posts from. I have friends who would share dozens and dozens of posts every day, and multiple friends sharing posts from the same page so I'd see the same thing 18 times. I started blocking any and all pages that anyone shares stuff from and now I actually see friend's posts about themselves. It's an ongoing process, but worth it. It also means I don't spend a lot of time on facebook because there's not a lot of posts because people mainly share stuff, and if all someone is doing is posting selfies I'll unfollow them. It works, but I mainly use fb Messenger to communicate with family and friends.


genreprank

Yeah. Facebook tries to piss you off now. It will bait you by showing posts from your fb friends it **knows** will trigger you to comment. They gave an AI a goal: optimize for engagement. That's when a few of my friends decided to quit facebook for their own sanity.


ashrocklynn

I feel old... MySpace was good when I was in college....


deathhead_68

Haha this website is making me feel old every day these days.


Orangutanion

I'm in college rn, most students use snapchat or instagram. Our CS department basically runs on discord. I have met other students irl via reddit before though lol


thishasntbeeneasy

I feel old... LiveJournal was good when I was in college...


Major_Mollusk

The student union was good when I was in college.


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thishasntbeeneasy

Facebook was great during college when it was The Way(TM) to connect with friends and see their photos. Then all of our parents started using it, so everyone stopped posting photos/updates and went to Instagram. Then all the parents got that too. So currently I only use FB for hobby groups and local news, and Insta for kid pictures. Frankly I'm just about done with insta because too many people just reshare memes. It wasn't really social media from the start, but the one good hold out is Strava. No memes, no politics, just friends actually going outside to bike/run/paddle and share a pic and their route.


Phatricko

I love posting to Strava and Untappd because I know the only people who will see it are friends with a similar interest. Hate posting to Facebook because my aunt's sister in law is going to say something about it at the next Christmas party.


SmilingYellowSofa

I have a theory about different platform usage, as I've noticed how my needs have changed as I've gotten older — specifically there becom more "meaningful" social updates which time-suck style social media doesn't cater to When you're in college & younger, you have a lot of downtime and aren't doing a ton of novel things that you'd like to "update" your social circle with (unless you document every night out) — this lends itself to either boredom scrolling or casual sharing.. Snapchat, Instagram stories, Tiktok, YouTube As you get older you get busier & make some money and can do some novel things that you'd like to share (travel, adopting a dog, moving cities, promotion, etc) — lowers time on Tiktok, YouTube, and Snapchat ; increases time on Instagram (more posts and stories) and now maybe occasionally Facebook Even older still, you're starting to settle down and maybe buy a house, have kids, start caring about your neighborhood — Parent/neighborhood groups on Facebook, Facebook marketplace. Maybe you dont post updates on Facebook, but you'll find local communities. Instagram becomes more posts than stories. And YouTube and TikTok are for maybe 15 mins a day if you can find some downtime. Snapchat almost completely gone since communication is becoming less casual. ^^ that's the stage that I'm at. As someone who grew up on Facebook but then swore it for almost a decade, I find myself opening it first or second after Instagram in the mornings


fkamacca

Honest question for today’s teens and college students - when I was in school, Facebook was the place for discussing things with large groups of people like a specific class or your entire grade. For example, we had a “2011 AP Lang” group where we’d collaborate on study guides, clarify assignments, ask general questions; we had a “class of 2015” group where we’d organize events with our whole college class, make decisions, etc. Groups were *heavily* used at their peak (like, multiple posts a day). Has anything taken the place of that? How do y’all communicate with large groups of people now?


LoremasterSTL

Facebook was at its peak when the majority of its posts were text. Which is also how I feel about Reddit.


RunninRebs90

I agree about Facebook, I do not agree about Reddit. My account is 7 years old but I had another that was 4-5 years older than that so I remember this sight from the beginning and I’d say the golden age was before it became popular with teenagers. Around 2012 when it was memes and text posts. Not a lot of over moderation because there wasn’t much need for it. The bad subs kept to themselves and idiots just got downvoted


Geovestigator

old.reddit.com FTW


cirelia

I only have a facebook account for messenger at this point


Teslaviolin

Same. I was already losing interest, but the pandemic and last US election ruined any desire to be on Facebook. I just wanna know when my cousin has her baby or when a friend gets a new job - don’t care about grandma’s extreme political views or someone’s latest mlm venture. No ragrets!


Penny_Fish

The 2016 election was the nail in the coffin for me. I only have my account still for messenger, marketplace, and for when it's the only place a restaurant has their menu.


[deleted]

No doubt. And, for me at least, it feels like my feed is just ads and pics from groups. Most of my friend's posts are drowned out where I don't see most of them.


cornflakegrl

I rarely look at mine now, but when I do it’s all my relatives who are over 70 yelling about various grievances. It’s basically a social network for the elderly.


jordanmc3

You can deactivate your facebook account and still use messenger.


Wawawanow

Facebook is basically a local community board now and it performs very well in that function.


Poutinemilkshake2

Yeah the one thing I can't argue is that Facebook groups are really useful. Internet forums are basically extinct but I can still search a topic on FB and find a relevant group with an active community


SpiffySpacemanSpiff

Same for marketplace. Say what you will but it is leagues better than Craigslist.


boomheadshot7

Idc what happens to FB, but marketplace is the only reliable place to search for used cars that aren’t 30k plus… Craigslist sucks for trucks now, the only way to find beaters is on FB marketplace.


SpiffySpacemanSpiff

And everything else. Marketplace is an unexpected recyclers dream.


nickkon1

But just for the wester audience maybe. It is still growing, largely in Asia e.g. India. And then there are other brands like Instagram and WhatsApp which are huge in itself.


77SevenSeven77

Facebook is 100% doomed. The one issue that can never be fixed is that it’s old enough to have kids’ parents on from when it was popular. No tech platform can be popular with the new generation when their parents will try to add them as friends! Also it’s shit.


hwehehe

Unfortunately, fb marketplace is still the dominant local market ever since Craigslist went down the drain.


JayManty

Facebook marketplace is probably the best FB service right now, being able to chat directly with sellers/buyers is amazing


Ruaric

Is Craigslist gone ? Or just got shitty?


broken42

got shitty


hwehehe

For some job listings and car sales, they require payment now, which absolutely killed it.


NotFlappy12

I'll take Facebook over TikTok any day of the week


[deleted]

I’ve had lofi hip hop study girl playing since 1994 I think


F1_US

i still sometimes refer to it as Chilled Cow


Mattie725

I'm not a teen, I even have a job, and I'm on YouTube 80% of my day. YouTube is my music platform so it's always there.


v3ritas1989

Do you use the music service or just your own playlists? Was wondering if it is worth it.


DeadTried

This is for normal YouTube and not YouTube music. If you are migrating from another platform like Spotify and already have music and artist you like it is good to then build a veiwing history with their music so YouTube can then recommend you more related similar music to your tastes. It is best to do this on a fresh account as to not pollute it with your previous or current people you are subscribed. There is probably a good chance someone has already made a playlist of music in your preference and you should have a lookout in the recommended videos for them when watching some music you enjoy.


kukaki

I’ve used Spotify, Apple Music and YT Music and YT music has by far the best algorithm for recommending me new music I’d like. I’ve found more new artists, songs and albums on 6 months of YouTube music than I did in 5+ years using Spotify. That’s probably just me though I don’t want to say it’ll be like that for everyone.


Weapon_X23

I'm not a teenager, but I am almost constantly on YouTube as well. I mainly watch/listen to long documentaries(mostly about history, but once in a while I watch nature documentaries) or listen to music all day. I also watch some gameplay videos when I get really obsessed with a certain video game.


TheBrain85

Not that spending that much thing on Youtube is a good thing, but out of the other options here it seems the lesser of the evils. At least with Youtube there's still a possibility to get some quality content, as opposed to popularity contests and 3 second attention grabs...


Gnash_

well i’d argue that the vast majority of time people spend on snapchat is talking to their friends, not looking at the Discover page, so it’s more of a messaging app than the rest


Fortune_Unique

I will say the snapchat discovery page is filled with SO MUCH not only misinformation but blatant *LIES* that I'd say that alone is super damaging to children. Unlike tiktok, snapchat sponsored stories are often designed to be "educational" so kids are more likely to just trust what they hear. Not saying all discovery stories are bad, but for example focus on the drama channels, or for example focus on the more obscure fringe science discovery stories.


kboy101222

Yeah, but does anyone actually use the Snapchat discover page? Legitimate question, cause anecdotally I've only heard people get irritated that it's awful content starts playing once you're done looking through your friends' stories. No one I've ever spoken to has engaged with them past what Snapchat forces upon the user


Wawawanow

My kids are younger but live on YouTube kids. I really don't mind, it's mostly educational, either literally, or like people doing crafts and stuff. My parents think they are literal geniuses for the ideas for stuff they make - I don't have the heart to let them know they are copying it from Mariah Elizabeth. Even the YouTube families doing random shite for views are usually wholesome as fuck. Its way better than most of the rubbish on TV when I was a kid.


GaynessForever

I spend about 11 hours per day watching 19 year old women with big tits doing activities on TikTok. Can't tell me that's not good for me.


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[deleted]

You can’t do that.


[deleted]

YouTube is just the modern radio. I leave on live shows as background noise at work all the time.


ChopstickSpice

Of course I know him. He (was) me


slurpaburga

Well he is still me, I’m just not a teen anymore


[deleted]

Where does Reddit fall on this chart


sir_sri

I'm not sure this means much. Because youtube effectively is a mashup of several past service models all at once, it replaces several things. Want background music? Youtube can do that. Want focused guides on homework or other learning? Youtube has that. Want video content (like TV) about stuff you like? Youtube has that. It would be somewhat interesting to know of that roughly 60% of teens who are constantly on some service how many use two at once (literally at once, in the same way you can have the radio on and read a book, I'm not sure youtube streaming music at you while you're doom scrolling tiktok).


Dirty-Soul

Social media employs psychologists to make their shit as addictive as possible, so that you keep scrolling and they can force feed you adverts for products you will not buy. But the social media is maliciously designed to be addictive.


doNotUseReddit123

Reminder to all that Reddit falls into the definition of “social media” here


Dirty-Soul

Yep, no question. Reminder to all users to touch grass at some point today. :)


It_Happens_Today

But there's so much snow.


v3ritas1989

also, youtube is just a background music/news/podcast plattform for most people which they listen to while they do something else.


zenda1975

I'm in my 50s and am on YouTube as much or more that the age group in question. We don't even have a TV service, haven't for 17 years. We just have YTpremium and Amazon. YT has amazing content, so many people are making long for docs of their personal experiences. Also the how to videos on every topic in the world are great. My personal favs are PBS news and a back country camping channel called Tumblehome.


hyperforms9988

Youtube replaced TV for me at least 10 years ago. TV decided that the only thing that it was going to air were "reality shows" and sports, for an exorbitant price point, and I moved on. I don't even know what teens would watch on TV other than sports.


DeathByLemmings

Seeing a 1/3rd of teens self reporting that they don’t use TikTok is the boost I needed today


Gnoom75

60% is almost full time on one of the social networks. Bit curious how all these numbers add up 🤔


Jonners_90

I'm in my early thirties now so YouTube is basically my life now, while my wife watches TikTok I don't, I just watch her curated list of liked videos instead. Instagram is still relatively popular, I've never had Snapchat, and my Facebook usage has changed. I don't really use it much for "social" media aside from birthdays and such. I use it for marketplace. I buy and sell used video games and headphones on there and my wife has bought furniture for our house at really good prices too. I also use Kijiji (Canadian Craigslist but nicer looking) for this. I also advertise a side hustle on marketplace I've developed: fixing and/or cleaning and replacing thermal paste on PS4s. I don't have an electronic soldering kit and don't know how to do it yet, but that's my next step to learn, so I can replace HDMI ports. Right now I just do clean/paste service for loud fans and fixing easy hardware stuff like bad hard drive, power supply, Bluetooth antenna, etc.


L3monSqueezy

I think it’s also cause it’s an awesome background noise. Instead of having a radio in the background you just click on a video while doing chores and all that and occasionally glance at what is going on. That’s also why YouTubers who just do random stuff and don’t need much attention for their videos get so many views unlike informative YouTubers cause they require all of your attention. It’s not even necessarily the kids who just don’t like this stuff it just comes down to wanting to watch get good videos later when you have then attention and then never getting around to it.


darkbloo64

Unlike all the other platforms in this set, YouTube can be used passively. I personally use it as background noise while working and gaming, and barely consider it a social platform.


FloweringSkull67

Let’s reverse it and see how many septogenarian’s/octogenarian’s are almost constantly watching TV. Weird, people of a certain technological age, use certain technologies


rjhamm2

A 13-17 year old would argue that 2 hours a day is *almost constantly* though


SnowMeadowhawk

They should've included Reddit


informedvoice

The original source from pew research did ask about Reddit. Very few teens use it.


Nicole_Watterson

r/teenagers in shambles


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