Has YouTube Gotten Boring?

You might have noticed in recent years that the videos YouTube recommends aren’t as good as they used to be. Where previously you could have easily gone down an endless rabbit hole of videos, now you’re stuck scrolling, looking for even just one video to watch. There are many factors contributing to this one massive issue.

The general quality of videos has declined. A lot of modern YouTubers only make content for the potential of gaining money or fame. This leads to videos produced with no passion, only to attempt to go viral and gain a following. Mr. Beast has contributed a lot to this. Many channels on the site attempt to emulate his style of content, creating a large lack of variety. Mr. Beast himself isn’t at fault though, he’s just the one that popularized this genre of content.

As a kid, everything is so much more interesting because you might be seeing tons of new things with every video.

Another factor is your perception of the content. As a kid, everything is so much more interesting because you might be seeing tons of new things with every video. The videos you remember from your childhood might only seem better because you were a kid when you watched them. You could be comparing the experience of modern YouTube with something that would be impossible to experience again now.

The final factor I’m going to talk about, and biggest in my opinion, is what videos YouTube decides to show you. YouTube keeps track of what videos you watch, and uses an algorithm to find videos it thinks you would watch. The algorithm has gone through many revisions over the years, and the types of videos it recommends are a lot different now. It’s hard to exactly quantify how much the algorithm is at fault, since we don’t get to actually see how the algorithm works, but it seems like there are just as many good, quality videos, and YouTube just isn’t recommending them to people.

All of these factors combine to create a pretty boring experience watching YouTube.