YouTube Shorts Are Like Crack
Back in February I decided to admit defeat in the battle against YouTube ads, and I signed up for Premium. Since then, I've become utterly addicted to shorts. It's very, very sad.
The YouTube Premium experience is extremely good. No ads, the site loads super quick, and YouTube even put up a "Skip" button when there's an advert detected within the video, from the creator.
It's nice. So nice that I've found myself looking more and more at stupid, pointless shorts whenever I get 5 minutes spare. This has result in my screen time going through the roof. Not to mention pissing my wife off as every time she looks at me, I have my phone in my hand, which isn't like me.
Take a look at these usage stats for 3 previous weeks, they're ridiculous:
I like to watch YouTube in bed if I decide I don't want to read, but I never had the app on my phone before. When I signed up for Premium, I put the app on my phone too.
Big mistake!
The worst part is that most of what I watch on my phone is absolute drivel in the form of Shorts. They're so bad that I often reduce the sound so my wife doesn't hear, as I'm actually embarrassed at the content in them!
So why the fuck am I watching them, dear reader? I have no idea!
I removed the YouTube app from my phone on Monday and I already feel better. I'm not wasting hours on my phone, my battery lasts for days again, and my wife isn't pissed off at me. Win, win, win.
Previously, I never understood how people can spend so much time doom scrolling on platforms like YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, or TikTok. Now I do - it creeps up on you!
If you want my advice, remove the apps from your device, as they're really not healthy. Well, they're not for me at least.
Want more?
So you've read this post and you're still not satisfied? Ok then, here's some other stuff for you to do: