YouTube…the great distraction.
Probably my most fearsome enemy when it comes to writing at all. I can’t count how many times I’ve said to myself “I’ll just watch a few vids and hit the keyboard”, and then by the time I realize what’s happened, hours have passed and it’s time for bed.
Years ago, I never had that kind of problem. Then again, years ago, YouTube didn’t exist as it is now. At the time YouTube came on the scene, I was in my last year of college, and aside from the faster internet connection at school, I had to contend with dial-up at home, meaning on a good day I could get about 4 kbps down. That was, of course, when I wasn’t fighting with the rest of the family for use of the one phone line in the house.
So yeah, YouTube wasn’t something I used often back then.
Coming all the way to 2019, I find that I’ve pretty much stopped watching TV altogether (because, seriously, there is absolute shit to watch anymore (I do occasionally partake of the Western channels on Starz, though. Love those old westerns!). I have over 200 subscribed channels on YouTube, meaning sometimes I get dozens of new videos in a day in my feed. I can watch it on no less than 5 devices in my room at any given time. And of course I can’t always watch them all in an evening, so I add them to my various Watch Later lists, which I usually don’t get to watch, so they just keep growing and growing, all the while new videos keep getting piled on top and…
Well, quite rankly, it’s madness to try to clear the lists. I know this, I acknowledge this, but still I keep trying.
Pretty sure it’s an addiction at this point.
The first step in getting over addiction is admitting you have a problem, right?
Well, in addition to this blog, I have started taking other steps in cutting back on my YouTube time. I’ve gotten rid of my dual monitor setup on my desktop, as I mainly used the second one for watching vids while failing to multitask. I’ve removed the app from my phone, and I’ve started trying to limit my watching to mornings and evenings while I’m exercising. And yes, I am trying to exercise more often, too. It’s been slow going, but I feel that I am making some progress.
I’ve not gone full out on blocking YouTube from my computers due to the wonderful synthwave mixes I find on there, but that may been an option I’ll have to look into sooner or later if things don’t improve.
Just one of the many challenges for the budding writer, no?
What are your thoughts on Youtube as a horrible distraction and what amounts to a very addictive entertainment source? Got any suggestions or ideas on how to overcome the temptation?
