I think I'm getting over my youtube addiction, strangely enough it's Youtube themselves that have brought about this change.
For many years I lived in a very remote region with limited internet access so I simply wasn't exposed to much media, and even the first couple of years I was back in civilisation I never took much notice of it. It's only in the last couple of years that I've really been looking at youtube videos and it became a bit of an obsession.
Early on I learned to not be logged in when viewing youtube videos simply because the urge to respond to people's comments was too strong and getting involved in arguments with people I will never meet is just another layer of stress I really don't need in my life. Because I'm not logging in and because my browser dumps all cookies every time I close it every time I go to Youtube I'm a brand new unknown user with no history.
This was great for a while but they've been tweaking the settings on their site lately and they took away the ability to sort search results by date. This has made finding things I'm looking for much more difficult and now quite often when I go looking for videos I want to watch I just get bombarded with so much ridiculous click bait crap that I give up without watching anything.
I could always log in of course and then I would have a little bit more control over what I do and don't want to see, but as far as I'm concerned that would be counterproductive, I'm noticing beneficial changes in myself from staying away from youtube. I'm losing my cravings for junk food.
I turned right off junk food when I was living in the bush, my sense of smell and taste altered and I began to really hate the smell of places like McChuck's and Kentucky Fried Kitten. I got used to that again living back in the city but I still never really went to any of the chain places much, preferring the little privately owned corner shops instead - better food and cheaper. Strangely though for the last couple of years I quite often wake up in the mornings wanting junk food and having to talk myself out of it.
Just 2 weeks of far less Youtube and those weird cravings aren't happening any more. I never would have been able to link those two ideas before but it really does seem like the constant bombardment of advertising was having an effect on me. Adverts are something else you don't get when you're living in a remote place.
For many years I lived in a very remote region with limited internet access so I simply wasn't exposed to much media, and even the first couple of years I was back in civilisation I never took much notice of it. It's only in the last couple of years that I've really been looking at youtube videos and it became a bit of an obsession.
Early on I learned to not be logged in when viewing youtube videos simply because the urge to respond to people's comments was too strong and getting involved in arguments with people I will never meet is just another layer of stress I really don't need in my life. Because I'm not logging in and because my browser dumps all cookies every time I close it every time I go to Youtube I'm a brand new unknown user with no history.
This was great for a while but they've been tweaking the settings on their site lately and they took away the ability to sort search results by date. This has made finding things I'm looking for much more difficult and now quite often when I go looking for videos I want to watch I just get bombarded with so much ridiculous click bait crap that I give up without watching anything.
I could always log in of course and then I would have a little bit more control over what I do and don't want to see, but as far as I'm concerned that would be counterproductive, I'm noticing beneficial changes in myself from staying away from youtube. I'm losing my cravings for junk food.
I turned right off junk food when I was living in the bush, my sense of smell and taste altered and I began to really hate the smell of places like McChuck's and Kentucky Fried Kitten. I got used to that again living back in the city but I still never really went to any of the chain places much, preferring the little privately owned corner shops instead - better food and cheaper. Strangely though for the last couple of years I quite often wake up in the mornings wanting junk food and having to talk myself out of it.
Just 2 weeks of far less Youtube and those weird cravings aren't happening any more. I never would have been able to link those two ideas before but it really does seem like the constant bombardment of advertising was having an effect on me. Adverts are something else you don't get when you're living in a remote place.
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