Yep, I watched some before and got distracted watching them for days once since YouTube starts showing them everywhere like on the home page if you watch a few. Kinda gets you in a very depressed mood by how these people get treated for filming and exercising their rights but even some of the people filming I think are wrong too. Like some are very professional acting though, sorta like what an investigative journalist would be doing but some are kinda punks and just cussing and making fun of people though doing their jobs like even unelected employees. I mean sure you can cuss and flip people off since it's your right as speech but I kinda like the idea of respect and treating people how you'd want to be treated. I guess one of those pick your own battles type of things.
But also watching them it makes me wonder if sworn police officers even have read the constitution, or just raised their hands and repeated what they were told during the swearing-in ceremony ... Then some of them seem to think the first amendment only applies if you work for the local news outlet such as channels like 2, 5, 7 or 12, etc... Like in some of the videos cops ask what news station or paper they work for. On the other hand though maybe the cops know anyways but try to use it as an intimidation tactic. Kinda like if you even know your basic civil rights, and start trying to exercise them they ask if you are some lawyer or something or if you are young ask if you are some law student. I guess they think only lawyers can know the law?
I believe that YouTube's algorithm can exacerbate mental health issues. Watching too much dark or otherwise unsettling material can absolutely lead to a downward mental health spiral for some people.
After many years of dealing with mental health issues, I am constantly monitoring the effect that my behaviors and activities are having on my mental state. I have personally experienced watching YouTube contribute to a decline in my mental health.
I've developed a few strategies for mitigating this:
First off, I monitor my urges and behavior for warning signs. If I find myself drawn to dark or unsettling things, I try to determine the contributing factors. Often, I come up with things going on in my life or unmet needs that are likely contributing factors which I can then work on addressing, or at the very least acknowledging.
Second, I only watch YouTube videos via the web interface while not logged in to a google account, with cookies being discarded at the end of the browsing session via incognito mode or a temporary browser profile. This helps ensure that any darkness I stumble into doesn't follow me around and drag me down. It does result in YouTube's recommendations being useless, but useless > harmful IMO.
Take care of yourself. This pandemic is not only going to be hard on physical health. My email is in my profile if you ever wanna chat about anything at all.
Thanks, yeah I feel depression is more of a symptom that something is wrong in your life, but I guess for some people even if you gave them a million dollars, they still wouldn't be happy. There are problems in this world (both inside and outside the US) that's bigger than me, along with other things that bother me but I guess not much control over that, so I find myself focusing on something else to distract me.
I use a Chrome Extension Distraction Free YouTube, even non-depressing topics it gets distracting like tech or gaming stuff. I try to use YouTube mostly to look up a topic I'm interested in like programming or tech talks, etc but some people I like their vlogs so I hit the bell button and have Gmail auto-apply a label...
I wish though services had a way to turn off things like related videos, etc though or some settings to show only if you reveal it - not sure the best idea from UX. Same with Quora or any other type of site, curious about something and then related questions distract. I guess they design them to be addicted and time sucks though, since more time you spend in the site it benefits their metrics and ad revenue.
I've been toying around with a product idea I have in my head but still super early but since I'm a fan of the freemium model and hopes to sell services/digital products on the platform, advertising or related content wouldn't be as important since I'd hope to actually have a thing of value to charge for, however, I feel ads if done tastefully and related content can add value, and maybe you're bored and want to find something to do... but if you use the platforms for both fun and education or work that can be distracting. Not sure if many platforms have attempted to tackle that problem much though.
I guess though doing less of these things that platforms do or give people more controls, probably would tick off your VC firm or shareholders as they'd see money being left on the table even if you were still profitable without it. Then there's dark patterns too. Like some game on my iPhone, is having a sale and as soon as I open it pops up a screen to buy gems, which is great way to get someone to accidentally spend their money I think. If I want to buy gems, I'll click the button myself... Actually very temped to uninstall it just for that reason.
But also watching them it makes me wonder if sworn police officers even have read the constitution, or just raised their hands and repeated what they were told during the swearing-in ceremony ... Then some of them seem to think the first amendment only applies if you work for the local news outlet such as channels like 2, 5, 7 or 12, etc... Like in some of the videos cops ask what news station or paper they work for. On the other hand though maybe the cops know anyways but try to use it as an intimidation tactic. Kinda like if you even know your basic civil rights, and start trying to exercise them they ask if you are some lawyer or something or if you are young ask if you are some law student. I guess they think only lawyers can know the law?