I have written about this topic before, but I was in love with this website for over 10 years of my life. That is over half of it as of this moment!
YouTube was special to me. When I was first introduced to it, I was shown a ForestFire101 video of Lego Batman. It contained very vulgar language and, being my 9 year old self, I turned it off in case my mother overheard. The recommended tab had the same temptation as it does now; easily I was shipped into a heavy stream of consuming content.
But, this never seemed to stop.
In 2013, I was watching a vlog of a couple that I liked to watch. One of them was from Smosh, which was an amazing channel to me as I grew up ( I still listen to their podcast). They were lying in bed together, sheets covering them, and they were saying their goodbyes to the camera and thanking the viewer for watching. At this moment, was when someone walked in the room, and told me off for watching this. When this happened, I did not understand why this was a bad thing; it is just a vlog. Then, as I got older I realised what pornography was. Ouch.
It was then that a content restriction was placed on the internet. Like someone is with their phones nowadays, I was distraught, and annoyed. Luckily, I found a way to bypass this, and I used an app which had no age restriction to watch YouTube videos ( a fake app using affiliate links). This made me very happy.
From 2010 to 2020, I never took a serious break from the website.
I think I understand why alcoholics and smokers get so addicted to their products. Psychologically, it becomes a necessity, a need for comfort in their lives through a familiar substance. YouTube was my cigarette; one that would not blow out.
I had tried to quit many times in the past. An abundance of New Years resolutions were to “Quit YouTube”. I didn’t believe I could do it. Even when it was necessary, around the times of my exams, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I yearned for it, I needed it.
So, from my last blog, it will be apparent that I have successfully stopped watching YouTube. This was due to me wanting to pursue change in my life; to make it better. This was the first step.
There have been times where I wanted to go back on it. I miss it dearly. The videos made me laugh, cry and discover things about myself that I didn’t know. Conglomerately, I was just consuming it too much. Who knows?, maybe I will go back on it soon, but with a disciplinary approach. I know for now at least, I don’t need it to function. I am happy and healthy that I can do this.
From My View 