The 2024 YouTube 40-day fast...HAS BEGUN

The Lounge General Discussion
#21

I am currently reading “Stolen Focus” too, and I was about to write here to recommend it because I find it very good and helpful. Even though I’m only 50 pages in (I started yesterday), it resonates with me a lot.

I’m also reducing my smartphone and social media consumption, mainly Instagram and YouTube. A couple of apps are helping a lot: Burnout Buddy and Opal (Opal is a bit expensive, so I switched to Burnout Buddy, but Opal has a helpful free Chrome extension). You can block Apps and Websites that way in case you are tempted and cannot control yourself.

My 2 cents! I don’t want to completely cut out YouTube, but I do want to reduce my consumption by 90%, which I’ve been successfully managing for a couple of weeks.

3 Likes
#22

By the way, after years without reading, I started reading books again last December, and that is helping me use YouTube and Instagram much less. You have to fill the void of YouTube/Social Media with something else. For me, books are key, and making music, of course, but that requires a bit more involvement. I have already read four books this month, which I wouldn’t have believed a year ago. I feel my attention is slowly restoring. So definitely go for it and step away from YouTube! :wink:

5 Likes
#23

I’m not in yet, but you have inspired me to set browsing time limits in macOS and if this works out, I’ll join the challenge. I already know my exceptions - friday Bad Gear/Audiopilz episode, one other episode per week from one of my favorite channels and potentially some tutorial video, but only if I actually need it to get something done at that moment (not just for fun).

I need to also cut down time on Elektronauts (currently my biggest time consumer after the Youtube). I’ll try to make some music instead or do some book reading, which I’ve been neglecting lately.

3 Likes
#24

My work necessitates continuous tutorials so this would be hard, but i may go in by not watching any reel about anything on any app. And solely watching work tutorials on YouTube.

2 Likes
#25

I use Apple’s stuff for controlling website and app use, but the idea is the same.
At any rate, I am at the beginning of Stolen Focus too, and I hope it stays good (personal development can go wrong very fast sometimes).

I relate to the “loop” thing - regarding social media - where you just go do the things you are used to doing on a loop. Few things feel as good as breaking the loop, and realizing you actually want to do things when you let yourself be bored. Things that are not part of that loop.

Really cool stuff, excited for the challenge. Now the challenge will be to NOT spend every waking hour on Elektronauts instead…

3 Likes
#26

I’m in. I just turned 36 and get really angry when I think about how many weeks/months of my life have been spent on empty-calorie YouTube (and social media) binging. The powers that be keep trying to deepen our addiction, and I definitely have been fully addicted at certain times in my life.

I will uninstall from my phone, and use 1Focus to block it on my personal computer. It’s very annoying that you can’t sign out of YouTube without signing out of GMail but I’m sure that’s all part of the plot.

Only exception is that I’m planning to make some videos with my friends and will want to confirm they look right. If I click a recommended video, I fail.

1 Like
#27

Alright, i’ll give it a shot. Not confident though.

1 Like
#28

Were you raised Catholic? I was, and Lent had me given up video games, candy, and chips like an idiot in 3 subsequent years. The video game year was when I started listening to music that made me question my faith and turned me atheist, eventually stopped caring so much and ironically became agnostic instead of a nihilist. Although I think the Big Lebowski played a role in that.

3 Likes
#29

That’s the best time to give it a shot. You’re working out a very important muscle!

I hear you! I try to have compassion for myself because I know that Big Tech spends millions upon millions to have psych PhDs working full-time exploiting little-old-me’s emotional and neurochemical weaknesses. Trust me, they are no different than casino designers…probably even more heartless. The awareness, self-honesty, and resolve to overcome are what matters!

3 Likes
#30

I am in. Just checked my mean runtime last 7 days. 2h 30. Damn.

2 Likes
#31

I will say that the amount of shorts I have thrown my way that contain Joe Rogan, or Eminem is crazy high. I don’t even listen or watch either one. Is this a demographic thing?

1 Like
#32

per day? Yeah bud, you will benefit immensely from this! Love the name, btw :black_large_square: :hole: :sunny:

Hahaha!! Better to be agnostic than nihilist. Way better! People’s chohnsons depend on it!

3343600594_79835883da_z
3343600594_79835883da_z640×512 47.6 KB

But no @jdaddyaz I was not raised Catholic per se…more Hindu+Buddhist+Catholic hybrid–but the ideas of good long term behavioral strategies and bad long term behavioral strategies cross over, as well as the value of cultivating mind-over-body…so long as one is strategic and aware of the genesis of behaviors/human nature, etc

Dude the black box that is “YouTube suggestion algorithm” is bizarre AF. Like, so weird. I love that my ADHD is constantly messing with a robot trying to pin me down…cause yeah, I get these weird suggestion patterns and I’m like “wtf? I’m so over that”

2 Likes
#33

As the founder of last year’s challenge :slight_smile: . . . I’m in!

2 Likes
#34

Yes, I habe a problem. Recognized last year (Advertisement fuxk). Deleted my YouTube Account… Missed some channels quite a bit and now I pretty much where i was before (+ brave). I share your sentiment of the time spend before all this. My plan for now is replace the time with listening to more Audiobooks and music + Reading books + muscle training (started alread last 2 months regulary)

1 Like
#35

Also, turn off watch history and recommendations on YouTube app, so it stops trying to make you buy sh*t you don’t need in case you need to watch something.

Let’s do it.

1 Like
#36

Thank you kindly for your modeling and spearheading of this concept!

1 Like
#37

I’m in. I feel this has come at just the right time. Thank you, @RhythmDroid.

Exceptions:

  1. daily yoga video
  2. If I need to figure out how to do something specific in the DAW, my music hardware, or home repair, only after first looking for a non-video explanation and attempting to follow it in good faith
2 Likes
#38

From what I was reading, their algorithm is a combination of things you’ll likely watch, based everything you’ve seen or clicked on before viewing YT, and also those things that represent another end of whatever they deem the “spectrum” to be.

I kept marking those JR channels as things to not recommend, but they still keep popping up… and apparently, those are just soft blocks. YT won’t allow you to completely block something, supposedly so you don’t end up in an echo chamber. So they say.

2 Likes
#39

I didn’t participate last year and won’t this year, but I did follow last years thread.

It did help me consider more what I choose to watch, but I watch so little video content, that I think I’m good.

Usually, I’ll watch something because I already have a specific interest in learning something (which is getting harder to do because of the countless people in competition to become synthfluencers, posting their stupid reactions to all things audio).

2nd guilty pleasure is watching snippets of some of the basketball podcasts, especially about things that happened years/decades ago. It was a different time back then without everyone broadcasting every random idea. It’s fun learning about key moments and riding that nostalgia train for a quick moment.

1 Like
#40

I used to binge on YT countless hours but nowadays I only look at something specific by searching for it, my method is simple: delete YT app from phone/tablet and use Firefox Focus to search for something, on the desktop I use Firefox Containers for isolating YT in the browser and never log in, that way I don’t get any history and I always have to search for something to see/listen, after a while it becomes something like searching google, you don’t use it unless you need something.

5 Likes