luddybuddy [comrade/them]

Hey I’m only 40

Things I am doing to avoid youtube:

• First and most obvious, the simplest way to quit anything, when I want to watch youtube, I don’t.
• Listening to music - this can scratch the itch of wanting something sensory, and is a lot less habit-forming for me. I’ve been on a music lull for a while, as my partner and I don’t really listen to similar music so we don’t often have the stereo on - we listen on headphones. I’d much rather fill the room than fill my ears, so I often just don’t listen. I’m trying to reverse that and also find music I like that has come out in the last 10 years.
• For short breaks from work (I touch computers remotely), I’ve tried setting a 5 minute timer and either looking at the wall, meditating, or doing something fidgety. This has the benefit of getting me good and bored by the end of it and going back to the software problem at work seems more interesting. This is good, but it’s not very attractive, so it’s more likely I’ll do something not as helpful.
• I’ve started a workout program - at the end of the day, if I didn’t go to the shop and push hand planes and saws, then I swing a kettlebell around for a while. I’ve been lacking a good nighttime routine for a while, and this so far is really helpful. It a) necessitates a shower, which also gives me the opportunity to brush my teeth, floss, etc. which I often forget to do, being a disgusting little ADHD gremlin, b) takes up time I’d often fill with youtube, and c) incentivizes going to the shop. If I get sweaty there, I don’t need to get sweaty at home!
• I am posting to hexbear, because I’m a LIB and haven’t joined an org.

Things I am not doing (or I am doing, but don’t want to)

• I am trying not to replace youtube with podcasts - there’s a similar problem with those, while they are not as addictive, they are definitely pedagogically inefficient. I tend to listen to these while cycling or walking already, and youtube was encroaching on my podcast diet in such situations as washing dishes. So, podcasts will remain as accompaniment to certain activities.
• Not trying to replace youtube with cheeky snack breaks. Working from home with ready access to tasty snacks adds up quickly.

Struggling to get off youtube and on to some new shit

I found I was watching more and more videos, which I excused because it’s educational - science, math, communists, swords & experimental archaeology, woodworking, guns, sewing, fitness, etc. etc… But I realized, thanks to a podcaster (Dave Anthony) and a youtuber (unknown) that watching videos is really inefficient at education - sure, a picture is worth a thousand words, but the format tends toward oversimplification, you don’t skim past content you already know because movie fun, you don’t go on a journey of research and revelation, just beam slop into your head. Also, the content I was watching can be categorized into three camps, all of which are useless, as I will explain:

• Content I know a lot about - i.e. woodworking. Mostly I watch because Rex Kruger is fun and I like watching him do things. But I know what he’s telling me already because I’ve been working with wood most of my life. Getting better at woodworking, for me, means getting into the shop and doing the dang thing. Same is true of sewing videos, though I can’t say I know nearly as much as Bernadette. Same goes for RevolutionaryTHOT
• Content I will use and don’t know yet - i.e. some of the sewing, some of the theory, some of the technology content - While I have learned some sewing techniques, and have had theory framed in new and useful ways (thanks Lady Izdihar), and fixed a lot of machines with the help of a tuber or two, I find that if I don’t talk about my learning or go and apply it, it is just trivia.
• Lastly, content I will not use and don’t know - Tom Scott, Matt Parker, Steve Mould, ElectroBoom, Technology Connections, InRangeTV, etc. - While the enjoyment is real, the learning is probably not. This stuff goes into my brain and some of it sticks to the walls like spaghetti. If I’m honest, it’s just television, and I watch it because I don’t want to feel bored. I’ve learned a lot from these channels, like the manual of arms for several obsolete firearms, and that BetaCam is not the same as BetaMax; but I didn’t need any of it.

In addition to taking up time I could use for reading, talking to people, and doing things, I think youtube has made me worse at reading. I haven’t been able to read more than three books on paper since 2020 (and I don’t think that’s due to the virus - I have the mental clarity, just not the attention span). Maybe it’s my phone in general, and not specifically youtube, but something happened and now every time I get a few pages into a book I pick up my phone instead.

I intended to talk about what I’m doing to avoid YouTube, but it’s almost time for work. I’ll make some follow up comments.

lol

And they tell us Iranian women aren’t free