To me this seems bizarre, or maybe friends around my age are doing this and not talking about it—but lots of people around my age use a lot of Facebook, which I also find to be a waste of time and counter-stimulating.
It's a simple way to learn something new without the need of getting too involved with the material.
(For example, Geography Now! [0]has taught me a lot of things about other countries that I would never know about and it only requires like 15 minutes of my effort once per week.)
I consider it a nice way to lose some time when I'm not trying to focus on something.
On the other hand, I haven't watched a movie in months.
Unfortunately, YouTube's recommendations really don't do a lot in helping me discovering new things. I find myself putting in a lot more effort in finding what I would actually enjoy than I would have hoped to have with everything Google knows about me.
0 - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmmPgObSUPw1HL2lq6H4ffA
While reading many of the comments on this thread I had trouble comprehending how anyone could spend so much time watching videos on YouTube. This aside made me realize that I probably spend five or six hours per week watching movies/tv shows. Pretty much the same thing.
I don't appreciate most of the YouTube personalities so it can sometimes be difficult to find good stuff, but then again I don't appreciate most television programming either. But I've realized that there is value in low-brow entertainment and not every single thing you watch has to be a great production with depth.
these people are able to make enough from youtube to either supplement a good professional income, or replace it altogether. which makes everyone, both producer and viewer, very happy indeed.