Design Decisions to Stop Brain Rot

YouTube is eating all my time and attention, and I'm not a strong person who can just cut it off forever. I tried to turn off the settings and make it just searchable for a month, but no it's not practical for me. I want recommendations. I don't want to miss the great videos being uploaded currently. I don't use much social media except Twitter scrolling, but the feed is somewhat intellectual, so my brain can't scroll through it effortlessly. However, I use YouTube for endless hours, just telling myself "a few more scrolls and I'll feel better or less tired." But every single day, after seeing garbage content and chasing that short temporary dopamine hit, I'm starting to hate myself. Now, how can I hate myself less? Since the day I got the internet, I've loved YouTube more than any other platform. Whatever I've learned today, the majority of credit goes to YouTube. But this place is making me feel guilty to visit these days. The greatest knowledge hub and my most favorite platform, but the way it is today. God save me from this. YouTube has indeed changed with Shorts scrolling, which has altered the entire course of learning and consuming.

Would I really scroll endlessly if the UI looked bad and the UX required more manual interaction?

Currently, YouTube Shorts requires just one slight finger movement. You can scroll while lying down in bed, traveling, or even I've observed people while hanging out with friends and family. It can't be everyone's fault for using something that's deliberately designed this way. There should be a way to fix this. YouTube is specifically a knowledge sharing platform, so like most useful software, having a less polished UI would actually suit it better. Not everything should be neat, clean, and aesthetic like Dribbble's PNG designs. Some software needs philosophy and responsibility built into how people access and engage with it. But who cares, right? The opposite of slop is care.

Honestly, we really don't need a YouTube like platform open 24/7. Practically, it's not possible to consume that much knowledge in a single day. We watch 2-3 long form videos per day 5 max, not more than that. This isn't even about talking to real people, it's about saving ourselves from the greatest mental and time robbery that's happening.

UI/UX Decisions Should Include:

  • YouTube should have time limits and harder UX to discourage prolonged staying: Some manual work is necessary
  • Instead of buttery-smooth, endless scrolling
  • Add a "Next" button on each short video, plus a "Back" button that requires clicking
  • Set a limit of 50 shorts per day
  • YouTube truly is the most amazing access to knowledge you can have at your fingertips. But this algorithmic work has ruined the essence of open-world visibility and enabled doomscrolling.

How to Make It Better:

  • Why does the feed change every minute?
  • Auto-displayed Shorts just by opening YouTube – this needs to change
  • On the feed, recommended videos pop up on screen but change while you're clicking on the current video – this is frustrating
  • Users should be able to choose a few videos to play next in a row format. The changing feed should appear below this row, giving users more accountability over their time and what they're consuming. Unfortunately necessary things are made hard to navigate, while unnecessary and trashy content is made easy to access.