why does youtube feel so lackluster and stale right now? | Internet Analysis
hello my dudes my name is tiffany welcome back to my series internet analysis today i just want to have a little more of a casual convo i want to talk about why youtube is feeling so lackluster so stale lately is it just me i don't know i don't think so as a viewer and a creator i have just been feeling very disconnected from youtube lately and out of all topics that i could discuss this week i thought let's dive into that first of all of course i considered titling this is youtube dying which i feel like is a question that is asked every year forever and no i do not think youtube as a platform is dying i have been on youtube as a viewer and a creator since very close to youtube's creation and i'm well aware that we all have ups and downs on this platform you know your relationship with different social media platforms can change but yeah this is just one of those eras one of these moments where things are not feeling like they're at their prime so in this video i want to talk about what i have been watching lately on youtube and how i've been feeling about that the algorithm also gonna get into like is tick tock affecting how i'm feeling about youtube so let's get into it my recent viewing habits typically like for the last five years at least youtube is my biggest chunk of my screen time it's where i spend the most of my time it's where i get most of my entertainment i have found that in the last few months i'm just choosing youtube less when i pick up my phone to find some entertainment i don't feel as driven to click on youtube or when i do i'm just like i've also found that a lot of what i am watching or choosing is like very light comfort kind of content so even though i'm not watching a lot of videos throughout the day i still do listen to youtube videos before bed and as i'm falling asleep so i'm the type of person i hate hearing noises at night every single thing i hear i'm like oh that's someone breaking in that's something scary i know it's irrational i try to cope with that by literally covering up the noises it just helps me fall asleep if i'm listening to something like i'd rather have a drone of a video or a podcast than silence can't do white noise either it's not enough so for night time half asleep listens i'm usually re-watching jenny nicholson or sarah's ed videos for similar reasons they're both reliably very long a good duration for me to probably fall asleep and both of them have nice you know soothing voices there's usually not any loud sound effects or anything that are gonna pull me out of my sleep so anyway that's very atypical for me you know usually i'm a go-to youtube girly usually i cannot get enough i have been still adding a lot of things to my watch later but then i don't watch them later it's strange what's happening i will tell you what's happening something is getting in the way of me and my youtube consumption and that is tick tock i know before we continue let's give a shout out to today's sponsor which is seat geek in case you're unfamiliar sea geek is a ticketing app and website that just makes it super easy to buy whatever tickets you need whether that is for music some concerts some comedy some sports whatever you're into seeky collects tickets from all over the web and makes it easy to search them all in one place for me personally i had tickets to a lot of good shows that were canceled over the past few years and now live events are coming back and i am very ready to see some of my faves in person fun fact my first ever concert was to see avril lavigne a legend so looking at the seatgeek app i synced it with my spotify and it immediately picked up all of my faves and showed me hey look who's touring soon um the shins remy wolf mona you're kidding me clearly i have plenty of great shows to choose from and what i love about seatgeek is that they will show you the ticket prices in different parts of the venue and let you know if it's actually a good deal is that price worth it if it's a green dot that means yes that's a good deal if it's red that means no not so good you can do better i think i'm gonna get these tickets for my birthday my anniversary christmas next year's birthday so next time you are buying tickets to any kind of show check out seatgeek you can use my promo code tiffany for 20 off your first purchase and you can click the link in the description to download the app thank you see geek tick tock okay here's the thing i was one of those people who resisted tick tock for a very long time i actually only downloaded it and really started watching it regularly about six months ago like this year i resisted tick tock through 2020 2021 even that was because one i love to be different i love it and i was scared because i had heard that tick tock is obviously so addicting and i was like the last thing i need is another app to take all of my attention so i tried to avoid it embarrassingly i got to a point where i kept watching youtube shorts even though they're pretty terrible we'll talk more about that later and then i found myself watching a lot of instagram reels and i got into like the christian mommy side of reels and i was like they're not serving me the right content i don't like this uh sorry i just had a flashback i recently went to get coffee and the barista asked what i did and i said i'm a youtuber which was mistake number one and she said oh are you a mommy vlogger it both ruined and made my day it was hilarious but painful i did not have a child with me but do i just give off mommy vlogger energy maybe anyway i realized i was getting like months old trends and it's so repetitive i was like okay clearly i'm craving the the short form content let's try out the real thing since downloading tick tock i've tried to approach it kind of like a social experiment which is my excuse because it's really just mindless entertainment obviously it doesn't have to be that deep but i do try to remain kind of self-aware in how it's affecting me my mood my attention span that was something i was really concerned about i used to walk around all day with my phone i have youtube premium highly recommend it if you can afford another subscription purely because you can like close the app and just let things play out loud so i'd walk around with my phone in hand playing videos out loud all day long as i was getting ready or cleaning or eating anyway it was easier to multitask because i didn't have to watch the videos i could just listen whereas with tick-tock i have to stop what i'm doing i have to hold the phone in my hand i've gotta actively watch the screen because there's text and all sorts of other things that you'll miss if you look away and then you have to actively scroll through so i find tick-tock not only of course the algorithm is addicting but the actual use of it is very physically captivating which further traps me in the cycle i've been watching some videos about other people's thoughts on like is youtube dying and this is from a recent drew monson video yeah okay but in general i don't know i think that tick tock is clearly like more in line with how people's brains are forming now and what you need like youtube it just it feels a little bit like a turtle compared to like the rabbit that tick-tock is like it's just kind of what people are requiring to not lose their minds right now so i completely get it tick-tock feels like a big party with like flashing lights and seizure warnings and like youtube is kind of like okay let me i'm gonna sit down and read a book yes i just compared watching youtube to reading a book but if tick tock is a movie did i just say mubi obviously much has been said about tick tock's algorithm and how scary it is in being so effective at captivating our attention serving you up some very specific content and i think it was drew maybe in that same video or another one that said tick tock is also so much easier to use because you don't have to click anything like with youtube you might have some decision fatigue because you have to actively decide which video to watch and click on it whereas with tick tock things just get served up to you next you do have to swipe but you don't have to make a decision it's already choosing for you so if you're feeling down in any way depressed anxious you want to escape as much as possible take talk is a lot easier to consume it's a very passive process so you might wonder what am i watching on tick tock good question i have gone down the dog part of tick tock because we adopted a dog a few months ago and he has taken over our lives in the best way i've become a stereotypical dog mom nathan and i send each other dog tick tocks constantly it's exhaustingly predictable again the individualist in me is like oh my god can't admit this on camera as almost everyone i've gone on to do i have adhd tick tock i certainly have some executive dysfunction but we don't have to get into that i also fall down other rabbit holes about internet culture history little fun facts i constantly catch myself when i'm having conversations with other people i feel like all i say is like oh i saw this take talk about oh i learned this fun fact oh i saw this tick tock that said and i'm like there's nothing in my brain except tick tock right now that's kind of obviously youtube and tick tock do have different types of content they do fulfill different cravings like again i do of course go to youtube for my long form content tick tock is better for escapism for when i don't want to think so overall sometimes i'm like you know what tick tock is adding value to my life i learned some fun things i've found a lot of interesting creators i've learned a lot from those creators either from educational content or just their own experiences which i think is valuable but also tick tock is very bad for over stimulation and getting trapped in those like 45 minute hour long cycles minimum of just completely being sucked in and i find that if you were to ask me after an hour of using tick tock what did you just watch could you tell me a couple things i like wouldn't be able to but i realized even though consciously i can barely remember all those different threads i do still have probably 50 threads swirling around in my brain all these different ideas and things i want to google and things i want to look into more things i'll forget instantly and i just imagine them all getting tangled in my brain because there's no way that consuming that much content in a short amount of time doesn't confuse your brain or at least me like definitely speaking for myself i can feel it after i've used tic toc for too long i feel this like hum of like yeah i guess i'm over stimulated i have too much in my brain that i can't detangle i feel like i have like 45 tabs open which i typically do in general but like in my head so overall i do think my youtube habits the things that i consume on youtube are probably overall better for me maybe i learn more maybe i retain more maybe it's not so overstimulating but still take talk is so deeply addictive that i can't stop and it is the app that i want to open at the moment so let's go back to that question of algorithms because i feel like youtube's algorithm has been terrible for a while now in terms of what is being recommended to me i have noticed and this was also confirmed on my instagram responses youtube keeps giving us videos we've already seen and it is the most annoying thing like i will have just watched a video today or yesterday and it'll get recommended to me again without any little red bar no measure of progress no no record of me watching it and my viewing is not set to private all my accounts are logged in it doesn't make any sense youtube hey um i watched that whole video i've seen it all you think i enjoyed it so much i want to watch it again what is this i assume this has to be a mistake or some sort of error in their algorithm because of course it's not effective in getting me to re-watch that video so i just don't understand the purpose of why they're serving me up literally the content i've already seen that's annoying and also it's not even just videos i've just recently watched they'll show me videos from channels i've been watching for years videos that i watched years ago when they came out and they'll just be like remember this old video you want to watch it again no or maybe i do so that's very annoying obviously very repetitive and just makes me mad when i'm scrolling through my recommended i literally just watched that love bites sorry love island's back then i've noticed they also will recommend me a handful of certain videos that i haven't clicked on and for like a week straight they'll continue being like watch this video and i'm like meh maybe eventually and they'll remember this video when i watch this i'm like give me something else aren't you supposed to serve me up different things i haven't clicked that one for a reason try again and my last main complaint is that youtube hasn't really been recommending me to very many new channels one thing i can specifically note is like i've been tagged in some lists of like video essay or commentary channels like on twitter and so i'll look at those and i'll see a lot of people suggesting a lot of the same channels that i've never heard of before which i find strange because this is my sphere of youtube video essays and commentary is a lot probably the majority of what i watch so why is youtube not giving me this kind of content that's exactly what i'm into and i'm like not a peep from my algorithm nary a feature in my recommended youtube you're dropping the ball this is quite easy and then you know in general youtube typically is very bad at promoting smaller channels which we know is an ongoing problem but it's like it's very weird which channels youtube decides to show me and then we've gotta touch on youtube's promotion of shorts so obviously with tick tock on the rise the most popular app right now probably currently youtube's competitor which is laughable is shorts you know instagram has rails and of course people are kind of just repurposing their same tick tock content onto those other platforms someone responded i hate shorts clogging my feed i wish they could be filtered out and i absolutely agree because youtube definitely wants creators to use shorts it's a new feature they're really trying to get people into it i'm pretty sure they have some incentives to promote shorts or like if you post shorts youtube will try to pump them out and then it's supposed to help bring in a new audience to your channel but as a viewer i can say i hate seeing shorts pop up in my subscription box right next to regular videos for a second it tricks me and i think it's a brand new upload but it's just a short and that's frustrating to me i want to watch a whole video and also just in terms of organization when i go to someone's channel and i go to videos and it's like a bunch of shorts because i get it i get why creators are doing it honestly i should probably be doing it it's a smart move in terms of doing what youtube wants you to do maybe getting that new audience but anyway looking at someone's channel it bugs me it feels disorganized and i hate it to see like i'm trying to find their last video upload but there's like 20 shorts in between i feel like the least i could do is just put it in a different tab put it in a different part of the subscription box am i wrong do they have this feature and i haven't even noticed okay so they do have this tab on channels which i appreciate greatly so you can sort videos or shorts but my subs box still puts them all together it also looks bad because obviously shorts are vertical and youtube videos are horizontal so it just looks like it's the wrong size they've got to reorganize this youtube if you're listening fix this please i might be more likely to watch a couple shorts if you at least make it look a little nicer please and so now i want to chat a little bit about video essays and commentary because most of what i do watch falls under this umbrella it's the sort of content i make there is no shortage of wonderful video essay content and actually based on the duration of most of these videos you could spend a lot of time watching it but lately i have found myself for really the first time avoiding video essays and especially heavier video topics though my peers are creating wonderful work as per usual i just like i don't think i have the brain capacity for it i don't have the emotional capability to handle anything that's too dark or heavy or complicated like i think my brain is just tired i will also say another kind of problem i've been having is like with the commentary genre expanding i think in the last few years we've seen so many amazing new creators join this genre inevitably people are covering some similar or like the same topics because naturally if you're making videos involving pop culture at all or news it's understandable these are very timely popular topics it makes sense why people are covering them and i think it's nice and it is important to hear multiple takes or multiple perspectives on the same issue that is very valuable like i would happily listen to five creators cover the same topic over the course of like a year but if they're all kind of posting that similar topic within the same week it might just be a little bit much another thing that some people responded on my instagram was that creators seem tired a lot of their faves have quit or post very rarely now and that youtube just feels off and i totally agree because hey i feel stale too that's a big problem again i feel like the only semi-interesting things that i have bopping around in my brain right now are things i've seen on tick tock oh did you see that tick tock of this i have nothing else to offer that's what's taking up all of my spare time and attention i have no original thoughts head empty it's really tough to feel stale as a creator especially in the video essay commentary sphere like we're always expected to have an opinion and have something really interesting to add to the conversation but it's like honestly sometimes or a lot of the time i do not have an interesting unique before heard take you know once in a while inspiration strikes and i'm like okay this topic feels very me like i feel like i can cover this really well i have a really passionate take on it but it's very hard to have that same energy or excitement you know week after week or for me maybe like once or twice a month looking at my posting schedule so for comparison i want to like think about this compare youtube to a tv show which of course very different productions youtube videos are typically one person to small team productions whereas tv shows are obviously massive but imagine if a show you liked posted or premiered an episode every week once a week but had no seasons so you would just get an episode every week forever for years i think even with a show that i love i would get tired of it eventually you know the excitement of seeing that show every week would start to die down because you would just have an endless stream of it every week the structure of having seasons i think helps you miss a show that you love you know when the season ends you're like i can't wait till next year to see more that time off also gives the cast and crew time to recuperate to actually think about what to do in the next season to plan ahead to try to make something interesting to get inspired and then also sometimes people talk about you know when a show kind of feels like it's gone on for a few too many seasons it's been dragging by then you're like just end it already there's no more to explore here that's so natural and the thing is that youtube feels like that sometimes definitely to me as a creator and i notice it sometimes as a viewer where i'm like okay i've seen enough of this content or this creator doing this exact thing it's not that fresh to me anymore it might still be comforting to watch but it doesn't have that same energy and that's the tough thing about youtube is we're expected to consistently every week or even once a month whatever consistently be coming out with new things that meet our audience's expectations yet there is no time off in terms of there's no satisfying series or season finale there is no time to end and then wait and process and work on something else it's just like a constant chug there's not much like time off to just sit and take an extended time to think or write or grow or change as a person or a creator no no no you've got to just keep keep chugging every week and somehow make it interesting and make it different make it better than before an impossible task and with that every time i mention youtuber struggles i know other people have to go to work consistently i very much understand that i'm just trying to compare the creative process even like expecting a musician to have a hit song every week or month also it's very possible to not be putting anything out releasing anything but still be working in the background so i guess that's what i'm thinking about colin and samir actually posted a video about youtuber seasons and how that could kind of possibly help this creative process be a little bit smoother easier would it actually work in terms of viewership and especially with the punishment of the algorithm if you don't post regularly i don't know but just a thought had to add the disclaimer that yes full-time youtubers are very privileged to be able to do this as a job but there are also difficulties and obstacles in creating videos for a living and with that we reach the classic topic of youtuber burnout i know we've heard enough about it but as a creator i can't get enough i want to talk about this all the time i also want to touch on like my problems with video essays like personally as a creator how i've been feeling which i am planning on doing an entire video on so i hope you're interested let me know in short i've been having a very tough time with my confidence as a person and a creator again i feel like i have nothing in my head i have nothing to offer there's the the sense of comparison to other people the constant pressure of analytics and views blah blah blah i'm always very dismissive of my own concerns or how i'm feeling which is not healthy but yeah like when youtubers are burnt out yet we are still to some extent obligated to make videos it sucks because obviously it sucks for the viewers because you can tell when creators are tired or when they're not feeling it their their hearts not in it anymore but as a creator if this is your job or any part of the income that you rely on you've got to keep going you've got to keep showing up you've got to keep posting so yeah i've recently come to terms with the fact that i am indeed feeling burnt out i think i was trying to deny it for a while and it's funny because as i've noticed that i have not been seeking out as much video essay content as usual if that's not my thing as a viewer if i'm feeling kind of meh about watching it then i think maybe people also feel mad about watching my video essays like if i were watching tiffany ferg's latest video would i even want to click on it would i even be in the mood for that right now and that sends me into a spiral because then i'm like oh god nobody's going to watch my videos my work is for nothing again there's a lot more that i want to get into in another video that's gonna be much more detailed and how i've been feeling but i think it's important for me to um try to find a way to connect again with youtube and with myself and what i want to do creatively and also with my audience because i have been feeling really really disconnected for a while hence why i'm doing this video a little more casually i'm trying to force myself out of my comfort zone or out of my formula to see if that helps jog some life into me i don't know but that brings me to the world is burnt out you know i don't think it's just creators feeling burnt out um viewers are also experiencing burnout but just everyone in general which is very normal like i've explained i don't feel like i have very much brain power right now i don't have very much capacity i don't have very much desire to think deeply i want escapism i want pure mind-numbing entertainment i think it's really important to mention the impact of the pandemic which we are still in it's not over yet yet we're in this weird phase of you know returning to normalcy in a lot of ways yet things are not done and also very importantly we haven't had time to process any of this pain and trauma that we've been going through for the last few years like we're just expected to be like let's move on go back to normal feel good again get out and live our lives we're all supposed to be putting on that facade of like things are fine now cheers i think there's also this component of like because we've spent the last few years a lot more isolated inside on our phones a lot of screen time there's also a pressure to like get out there and live real life and like socialize with people again and touch grass which is great i am trying to do that as well i'm really trying to um give my eyes a break at the very least which as a creator is actually really scary it's like a very selfish reaction to be like oh my god i think people are watching our videos less i think we're we're getting less views on youtube because or maybe in part in part because maybe people are out there living life a little bit more and maybe not sitting and waiting for the next upload as we were for the past few years you know which as a viewer i understand i love to see it as a creator i'm like no please sit and refresh your home page so that you can watch my video as soon as it's out i know very selfish but i think it's hard as a creator to not be extremely invested in like the viewership habits of your audience back to my point of like feeling burnt out i think that's a big part of all of this like youtube doesn't feel like it used to because nothing no type of entertainment can heal what's going on with me or with anyone does that make sense i have to continuously keep reminding myself it is okay to feel off it is okay to feel uh it is okay to feel like i'm just surviving day by day because that's what we've been doing we've been in a survival state for a long time and it's not gonna end any time soon and one of my biggest takeaways is that again especially under a capitalist system we do not have the time to pause breathe reflect process grieve i recently was busy trying to write a video i had a deadline so i was trying to focus and there were many tragic events happening in the news globally in this country and i had this horrible day where i needed to film and i had to actively stop myself from keeping up with the news because i knew if i read that news if i pay attention closely to what horrible things are happening i won't be able to be happy on camera i won't be able to perform and it was such a sickening feeling to to kind of have to actively turn off my humanity turn off my awareness to what was going on because i had to focus on ultimately being productive going to work essentially and it is so that we all have to do that we all have to do that you know like how many times in high school did i have to stop myself from crying for whatever reason because i had to go clock in at my job after school you know we all have to do that we don't get to take days off because the world is and it's really hard to focus on this stupid work we have to do so yeah i've been having a lot of moments thinking about that how it really is all about remaining productive remaining busy focusing on work you're not allowed to stop we can't slow down even though we can we're not allowed to even if you as an individual are fortunate enough to have some paid time off for mental health days or whatever dystopian that is good to have but you know it's like oh you get one day to deal with that mental health of yours and otherwise you need to be back to work collectively we all are not able to like slow down the whole world and be like hey let's let's be real we don't need to work on a lot of this most of this is certain things need to keep going so that we can all live but like a lot of our work is you know i once saw a tick tock that kind of reflected this idea and i have referenced it so many times and i think about it a lot because it's been so profound to me and i can't remember the creator i can't find it but if i ever remember i'll i'll let you know but essentially the creator was talking about how often our goal as people is like i just want to be happy but how it's not a healthy goal to assume that we should always be happy that the standard state of a person should be happy because there's so many other things that we experience in life so many other states so many other emotions that constantly trying to get ourselves oh just get over it so that you can go back to being happy again go back to being productive again that's not good we are not going to be happy all the time we shouldn't set that expectation for ourselves and we need to give ourselves the space to not be happy we need to give ourselves the space to process and go through negative emotions for a long period of time often anyway that could be a whole video in itself and honestly i'm interested i think that would be something kind of fascinating to try to dive into but anyway yes again because we do not get that time or space to process all of the that we go through individually and collectively it's not surprising at all that we are feeling burnt out and that our escapism into entertainment such as youtube is not effective in um healing those wounds i get it it makes sense i'm laughing a bit while editing this because that was a pretty heavy section and there is like not a good transition from this to the next it's abrupt so anyway back to internet things so my last thing if i am feeling kind of meh not so inspired about youtube and if i am consuming a lot of tick tock why don't i try to start making to talks of my own it would be a smart business move you know a lot of youtubers a lot of people on other platforms are using tiktok to build a new audience or bring their audience back to their main platform good question yes i agree that you know to survive the harshness of the ever-changing internet it is very important to adapt that's the advice however i as you know create very long form content and frankly i would not know how to make myself have a concise point i don't think i'm capable of that anymore however i will say that i really like and admire the way that on tick tock again especially when i'm watching other internet culture kind of content or history content i like that some creators are able to share just a little tidbit just like the the inkling the beginning of an idea be like hey i've been thinking about this it's not fully fleshed out yet but just wanted to share that and see what you guys think i like that because i do have dozens of those ideas and little tidbits floating around in my brain and it's nice to think that i could make one quick point or ask one little question without feeling compelled to write an entire 25 minute video or even practically you know if i really wanted to i could just edit little clips from my youtube videos and put them on tick tock or just re-film repurpose little tidbits i don't know tidbits say it one more time but aside from the actual content challenge i will admit i am scared of the tick tock comments section i have heard some things that people on tick tock for one reason or another are just kind of vicious and though i am used to being subjected to the youtube comment sections um i could just see myself like spiraling and reading way too many tick tock comments and not being able to stop myself from looking at those and again i think i'm in a slightly too delicate state currently with my self-esteem that it's probably not the best idea to put myself out there and be thrown onto random people's for you page so they can rip my stupid ideas to shreds but lastly i also just really enjoy actually using a platform purely as a user as a viewer it's a really nice change of pace to not have to worry about being a creator not monetize it not turn it into part of my job so here we are at the end of the video to reiterate youtube is not dead i don't think it's really dying i might be a bit tired and fatigued as a viewer and a creator right now but that doesn't mean that everyone is feeling that i'm sure there are different pockets of youtube and different creators that are thriving right now as is always true the rise and fall and ironically enough as i was writing this and i was bopping around youtube to get a sense of what's going on then suddenly i was tempted to binge watch a bunch of content then i was like i had like four videos i was like oh i want to watch these right now funny funny how that happens perhaps it was me trying to procrastinate actually doing work i was like no no i'll watch i'll watch videos now i will consume content all day long there's always a thousand more videos on my watch later and that that is true there's there's no shortage of good content on youtube and with that being said i really genuinely appreciate you right now choosing to have watched this video and making it to the end that is very kind of you i hope that you enjoyed watching this video and i would love to hear your thoughts on um how are you feeling about youtube as a viewer and or as a creator let me know what your favorite platform is currently and what kind of content you are seeking out and thank you as always to my sweet sweet patrons if you want access to bonus content or just want to support the channel that is much appreciated extra shouts out to my executive producer tier oola face abby hayden cassandra toner eric danielson freshly laundered jaden c jackie king gemma quack jill hoffman joe fernandez josh woods julie leva justin landis casey luck kristen holloman christian monge matthew gray megan collins medcat 33 nicole louise online dbt skills rebecca goodson rob sanders rohana barton sarah kemmie stevie may tessa thompson tom walker truffa and vivianeolodon.com thank you all for being such sweeties and once again thank you to see geek for sponsoring today's video you can download the app click the link in the description and use my promo code tiffany to get 20 off your first purchase thanks again and stay tuned for future internet analysis videos okay thanks bye
2022-06-25 19:15
