The problem I see with YouTube is that I always start on low-regret content like lectures, or a news clip about a current event I want a summary of. Or a video that a friend said was funny (that's good signal).
But then rather than recommending more content along the same lines (which I would probably bookmark but not be encouraged to click), there is a short low quality video that somehow slides under the radar of "not worth my time". And then this chains together, and what started out as a low-regret interaction has spiraled into a high-regret one.
uBlock rules for the shorts, recommendations, etc. basically solved this problem for me. I think there is a ton of potential with the alternative YouTube frontends too. We have access to an unprecedented amount of information, it's just hidden behind malicious interfaces.
I had the same problem. Blocking those elements helped, but was a pain to set up on each device I used. Switching entirely to alternative front-ends like Invidious was what finally helped me stop getting sucked in by those.
I highly recommend the Unhook extension. It's highly customizable, and personally I have it set to remove all recommendations. Sometimes I also disable the comments.
It's been a year since I've used it, and I definitely see an improvement as the platform is no longer pushing content down to me, but at times I find myself frantically searching channels I used to watch, to see if there is a new video since I last checked. I only remember a dozen at most, way fewer than the ~100 channels I was subscribed to.
Overall an improvement, but I don't consider myself cured.
But then rather than recommending more content along the same lines (which I would probably bookmark but not be encouraged to click), there is a short low quality video that somehow slides under the radar of "not worth my time". And then this chains together, and what started out as a low-regret interaction has spiraled into a high-regret one.
uBlock rules for the shorts, recommendations, etc. basically solved this problem for me. I think there is a ton of potential with the alternative YouTube frontends too. We have access to an unprecedented amount of information, it's just hidden behind malicious interfaces.