Making the Internet Work for You: YouTube

First, be clear about your intentions. For myself, I want to maximize learning and improving myself, and minimize “zombie entertainment”. This is when we’re caught in a pattern of consuming from a firehose feed for entertainment, without intentionality. It’s a fake flow state: time passes quickly and the world fades away, but there’s no cognitive d... See more

The key to avoiding “zombie entertainment” is to entirely ignore recommended videos, and separate curation from consumption.

Many social networks also have incredible value, but self-control in the moment fails. Instead, it’s up to you to control them so that you pick what you get out of them. I’ve spent the past several years building systems to maximize social network value, while minimizing natural feedback loops. I’ll start with YouTube, which I consider the most val... See more