So much wasted when it could be for good (not that ALL YouTube shorts are bad, but the overconsumption is). That’s my question…what’s a YouTube user? I have an account, I use it maybe weekly, and I watch maybe 3 shorts a month. If I’m in those stats…then that means the average is way higher than 80 per day, and 80 per day is so high to my mind that I can’t even fathom it…especially when almost every kid (which I was a long long time ago) uses more than one social media platform…are they watching 400 per day? God help us.
Yes, I used that average precisely to showcase how high it is despite most people watching much less! (me included, I mean 80 a day is crazy). I think YouTube was super useful before shorts (I've learned plenty from YouTube). I know people still watch longer videos and probably most of the viewing is just audio, not video (ASMR, music, etc). But still, the stat is probably concentrated on the young demographic, which paints a bleak future.
I’ve wrestled with exactly this now for some years. I got into programming in the 80s, because it was so fun I could barely make myself do anything else. Later, it turned out people kept giving me money to do it. What a strange and happy surprise! At some point I guess it became a “career,” and I let that happen because we need jobs and it was still fun. But here I am, mid-50s, and I’ve developed such a revulsion for the tech industry. I can’t tell anymore where the actual tendrils of evil lie. It all feels faintly toxic; everything is at most two steps away from a predatory business plan, a venture capitalist, a surveillance platform, another harebrained app to sap more of our attention.
I know it’s not fair. There is tremendous value to so much technology. This sense that everything is complicit in everything else is not rational.
I’m trying hard to regain my love for the craft itself, maybe try to figure out something to do far, far away from the machinery of Silicon Valley, beholden neither to the wealth nor the culture nor the need to relentlessly misrepresent what you’re doing because hype is what sells. We’ll see how it goes.
Good read as usual, but I think you're optimistic regarding the push back. I fear/think it's more likely we'll end up in a Universe 25 scenario, like well fed mice. Read up here or in many online sources:
Thank you for reminding those of us who continue to write that which has already been written that the project is to keep the echo alive. I write about ethics--nothing much new to be said. Yet, people still wonder how to live authentically as they build a community where all can thrive. I will continue contributing to the echo.
Thank you Catharyn! Yes, I realized it can get annoying that so many people are saying this so it should be clearly stated that *that* is exactly the goal: keep the echo alive.
I have to question how many of those shorts are actually being watched and how many are just playing in the background while the "viewer" does something else: 200 billion videos served does not equate to 200 billion views. One of the stats I discovered today during the course of my day job is that on a laptop/desktop, 75% of YouTube videos are playing in a tab that's not visible.
That just makes me sad about how much energy is being used to deliver videos that nobody is even watching.
Can you share the source of that stat (I think that refers more to longer videos but just in case)? But anyway, does it matter? YouTube shorts, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook reels... It's hard to see how qualifying that a view is not actually a view makes it any less critical that we stop doing this at once. It's the intention behind not the actual number that's the problem. They have the world addicted. The stats (not just this one) are terrible (e.g. the anti-social century)
Never has so much potential been streamed away by so many for so few fleeting clips. I wrote a love letter to the internet of yesteryear: https://www.whitenoise.email/p/when-the-internet-was-for-people
Agree 100% with this post!!
So much wasted when it could be for good (not that ALL YouTube shorts are bad, but the overconsumption is). That’s my question…what’s a YouTube user? I have an account, I use it maybe weekly, and I watch maybe 3 shorts a month. If I’m in those stats…then that means the average is way higher than 80 per day, and 80 per day is so high to my mind that I can’t even fathom it…especially when almost every kid (which I was a long long time ago) uses more than one social media platform…are they watching 400 per day? God help us.
Yes, I used that average precisely to showcase how high it is despite most people watching much less! (me included, I mean 80 a day is crazy). I think YouTube was super useful before shorts (I've learned plenty from YouTube). I know people still watch longer videos and probably most of the viewing is just audio, not video (ASMR, music, etc). But still, the stat is probably concentrated on the young demographic, which paints a bleak future.
I’ve wrestled with exactly this now for some years. I got into programming in the 80s, because it was so fun I could barely make myself do anything else. Later, it turned out people kept giving me money to do it. What a strange and happy surprise! At some point I guess it became a “career,” and I let that happen because we need jobs and it was still fun. But here I am, mid-50s, and I’ve developed such a revulsion for the tech industry. I can’t tell anymore where the actual tendrils of evil lie. It all feels faintly toxic; everything is at most two steps away from a predatory business plan, a venture capitalist, a surveillance platform, another harebrained app to sap more of our attention.
I know it’s not fair. There is tremendous value to so much technology. This sense that everything is complicit in everything else is not rational.
I’m trying hard to regain my love for the craft itself, maybe try to figure out something to do far, far away from the machinery of Silicon Valley, beholden neither to the wealth nor the culture nor the need to relentlessly misrepresent what you’re doing because hype is what sells. We’ll see how it goes.
So good comment - thank you for the reflection Pär!
I wanted to restack every sentence of this. I'm fed up too.
Good read as usual, but I think you're optimistic regarding the push back. I fear/think it's more likely we'll end up in a Universe 25 scenario, like well fed mice. Read up here or in many online sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_sink
I hope you are wrong. Fortunately, we humans are thoughtful animals. I'm sure we will reconsider our choices and act accordingly......
Preach and never stop preaching.
Thank you for reminding those of us who continue to write that which has already been written that the project is to keep the echo alive. I write about ethics--nothing much new to be said. Yet, people still wonder how to live authentically as they build a community where all can thrive. I will continue contributing to the echo.
Thank you Catharyn! Yes, I realized it can get annoying that so many people are saying this so it should be clearly stated that *that* is exactly the goal: keep the echo alive.
I have to question how many of those shorts are actually being watched and how many are just playing in the background while the "viewer" does something else: 200 billion videos served does not equate to 200 billion views. One of the stats I discovered today during the course of my day job is that on a laptop/desktop, 75% of YouTube videos are playing in a tab that's not visible.
That just makes me sad about how much energy is being used to deliver videos that nobody is even watching.
Can you share the source of that stat (I think that refers more to longer videos but just in case)? But anyway, does it matter? YouTube shorts, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook reels... It's hard to see how qualifying that a view is not actually a view makes it any less critical that we stop doing this at once. It's the intention behind not the actual number that's the problem. They have the world addicted. The stats (not just this one) are terrible (e.g. the anti-social century)
Sorry, I don't have the source. It came up in a podcast about marketing.