While trying to learn something today by watching YouTube, I realized how hard it has become for me to watch long-form videos, especially when I have an actual goal and I’m not just scrolling randomly or using it as secondary background noise. The video landscape has changed significantly in the last few years, and few seem to have noticed what effect it actually has on all of us.
At first, I thought it was me, but as I watched more and more videos this morning, I think I’m going to shift most of the blame to the content itself. People have invented the term enshitification to describe how businesses have shifted from caring about the customer to making sure the shareholders profit. I think it’s not just the corporate world, but everything. A gigantic shift in the priority. Every video I saw today was not created for me. YouTube has been programmatically changed to benefit the creator over the viewer. Instead of presenting entertainment or educational videos you might enjoy and learn from, we are shown the videos that will keep you wanting more, and the videos are structured for maximum profitability rather than usefulness.
AI is planning, writing and styling videos to grab viewers mathematically. The content is designed to make money first. The viewer isn’t considered or consulted because inconvenience keeps you watching longer. Creators are flooded with ways to increase followers and retention. The viewer is the cash cow they couldn’t care less about.
It might be subtle until you see it, and then it’s all you can see. The same wording and phrases used in every video become even more annoying than the ai voices. The short content is designed to tease you into to watching the long content, and the long content is aimed at getting you to keep watching past two or three advertisements. It means you’re forced to sit through the kind of filler students used to pad their 1500-word essays with to appease some teacher. Anything of value is strategically placed in the last third. We are left feeling either not quite satisfied by shorts, or incredibly frustrated by the “get to the point” style of the extended, tedious videos. It’s a nightmare for my ADHD Brain. Both options are bad.
Making it worse, every post is copied and repackaged by the same AI, using the keywords and structure for a new brand or presenter. It works, so everybody is doing it. If you have a favourite YouTube creator, chances are they have shifted to this new model as well. Bright, flashy thumbnails and catchy titles out front, and ai planned and recycled scripts have taken over. Whatever they need to keep the income stream alive, because they now depend on winning in the algorithm war or starve. Human satisfaction is far less important than the math that pays the bills.
Almost half of my feed is about beating the algorithm. “You too can get 10,000 followers if you follow this plan or take that course. Too much content is about how to monetize content. If you’re not doing this or using my guaranteed system, you must be crazy. Look at my boat! This plan is better than that plan. My Grandmother can do it – you can too. “
They are shaming people for not doing everything they can to make the most money out of their content possible. People like me who came here to have fun and create because they enjoy it are pestered daily by the platforms’ notifications and marketing. They are creating guilt if all you want to do is take a picture of your cat. You feel bad for not joining the creator cult, and then if you do, your focus changes from enjoyment to obligation. The dream of buying a boat on earnings is unreal for most people, but you’re still strongly encouraged to try. Then you’re a failure when you don’t succeed. You should have listened to that guy instead.
The strategy is to see what works, and steal it, repackage it and create a daily stream of algorithm-friendly videos. You won’t succeed unless it becomes your job.
The irony is that people don’t always want their social media to be their job. It used to be more fun. Not every video was a beautiful person pitching, or guilt-shaming us for shooting another video of our lunch. Those videos exist online, but because of the AI feed math, they are hard to find, which drives even casual creators into seeking ways to be seen by more people. The trap works. The lure of follower numbers is real, even if most of the actual followers are fake. The more successful you are, the less you feel connected. You start to care more about the numbers than the people.
I see it getting worse before it gets better. More and more people are realizing that creating AI content is easier and more profitable than watching other people’s content. We are approaching a point where the museum is bulging with content, but nobody walks through the doors.
