30 Days No YouTube Challenge

2023-12-12 - 20:23

I left social media a year ago but, I have still not gotten over my YouTube addiction. It's just that YouTube has taken the space social media had. It's very hard to not use YouTube, as it feels like I'm doing something productive, even though all the things I'm learning or watching will never be applied anywhere.

Likewise, it's just knowledge stored in my head. Not only that, but it's not all that bad, I have a habit of having useless knowledge in my head for a long time.

Like this -

The problem is that by investing this time just watching things, I'm not able to apply any of the things.

So I'll never find what I really like or what I want to do in life. I'll never commit, even if I find it in a certain way. Of course there will always be doubts in life but getting good at something is an important part of a fulfilling life.

So I've decided to quit watching YouTube from 2023-12-12 until 12th of Jan. The rules are simple, don't watch it unless you really need to learn something and need reference video.

I listen to podcasts so, I'll just use Spotify to listen, and also take proper notes of it like I did here.

I just want to come out of it having a better restrain on my social media behavior and spending that time doing something better than just binge-watching YouTube in the name of "Learning something, or being productive".

Shwetabh once said that if you're not in the top 5% in the world at what you do, you shouldn't be sitting around and being lazy. Kaam Karo!!!

I'm adding this to the daily notes template to remind myself to come here and do daily updates.

Day 1

This is day one so nothing much happened, I do feel the urge to watch YouTube and I think twice I instinctively opened Brave browser in my phone to open YouTube on it.
Other than that, my mind is making up some excuses as to why the challenge is not that important and why I should not take it seriously. "There won't be a big change anyway". So just fighting my own brain at this point. Reminds me of long distance running from 2017-2018.

Day 3

I instinctively opened YT once and that was it, didn't watch anything but that happened. It's so weird that these things happen, even though we feel like we are in control, maybe we are not so much in control after all.
This can become a good topic on how much we think we are in control but are not in many of the things.

Day 4

I'm getting so bored in free time, as there isn't much to do other than just learn more things or watch some anime. But, I don't want to just watch anime so, I'm spending that time reading things. Which is awesome!

Day 5

• I think, I'm getting used to this. I did visit YouTube to find a podcast, but that was it, didn't watch videos there. So far, so good.

Day 6

I'm starting to forget that there's a site called YouTube, Well, jokes aside, I don't have any urge to watch anything on YouTube anymore. I do visit it once a day for watching a Python Course that I'm learning right now, But other than that, I don't watch anything else.
BTW, I was looking for documentaries on long distance running, so I watched a short documentary that was embedded on a running site from YouTube.

Day 7

• Was too busy to even think about YouTube today
• 

Day 8

I had to watch a few videos as I was researching something, but I surely don't like using that platform anymore. I realized it when I saw all the recommended videos on my homepage while I was searching for the research videos.
Makes me think, "What the hell was I being recommended, with all those highly optimized SEO titles and all those crafted thumbnails as well, just to get to me click on their videos".

Day 9

Just visiting YT for python course and nothing else. In my free time, I'm reading MF Ghost (2017) manga. As MF Ghost (2023) the anime season 1 just completed.

Day 10

Course videos and, some awesome bhajan songs shared from a friend.

Day 11

I don't think there's any need for updates if nothing is happening. So, I might skip these updates now.

Day 22

I was looking into hydroponic systems that can be made for home, So watched a few videos on that topic.

Day 30

After a while, I did forget about YouTube, and it was pretty awesome to know that I can just stop watching if I want to. I have a lot more control over the things I'm consuming now. Going forward, I don't think I'll just stop watch YouTube completely because for me, it's a good source of inspiration. I get a lot of information and overall it's good for me, only if I'm in control. And after not using it for 30 days, I think I have a good idea of how I should use YouTube overall.