Youtube's recommendation algorithm is one of the wonders of the modern world. I discovered so many incredible videos that I would never have searched for and that no one would have recommended to me, thanks to it.
>I’ll still come across the best content organically - such as a friend sending me a video or a tweet, or when I go searching for that content with intent.
This person is very lucky to have such interesting friends whose interests align so closely with theirs, and who are willing to put in all the effort of content discovery on their behalf. My friends mainly send me dog videos and memes.
Logged out I'm seeing mostly useless viral videos that I have no interest in. By default it appears to me that YouTube recommends pure sugar. Whereas logged in you can steer it away from that.
Starcraft 2 pro matches, interesting algorithms and maths, lots of bodyweight fitness/calisthenics/gymnastics- it's fantastic!
OP is basically saying, "I know about this, YT knows I know about this, and I'm still hearing about it [even-though there are theoretically more important (new) things I'm _not_ knowing about b/c of recommendation algo]"
thanks to "the algorithm" i was able to find a bunch of amazing cooking channels that 100% improved my cooking skills.
If you only watch random Youtube videos linked from other sites with no particular theme, or generic news and political videos, or don't subscribe to any channels, I can imagine the recommendations would be pretty useless. But the algorithm does seem pretty good at recommending things related to your interests if those are clear from what you watch and subscribe to. It's probably the only recommendation engine I find useful.
How many videos do you need to watch about music theory? Does it ever feel like the same content but regurgitated in different ways? Do you watch this to genuinely learn? Or is it more enjoyment/infotainment? (honest questions)
I don't study music theory, but this is how I feel about productivity/self-help/business videos, which dominate my feed. Although these videos were life changing at one point, I'm not sure how much more value I'm getting by continuing to watch these anymore. When I get to the end of these videos, nowadays, I just feel a bit 'bleh'.
It feels nice to find new, refreshing content that is completely outside of what the youtube algo would give me, and sometimes that happens by talking to friends (esp in different industries), reading books, old blog posts, etc. I want to stay curious and proactive in finding discovering new things and hobbies and interests.
Regarding Youtube and music education, I feel like it's a pretty healthy stream of content.
>Does it ever feel like the same content but regurgitated in different ways?
Learning an instrument is such a challenging and broad topic, there's no shortage of things to learn. One thing I like about Youtube is that the better content can surface for everyone to access. Finding a good teacher in real life can be tricky, but with Youtube I can watch 10 different people's takes on a topic and see which explanation clicks for me.
>Do you watch this to genuinely learn? Or is it more enjoyment/infotainment?
It's both. Staying motivated, interested and enthusiastic is just as important as the learning itself. Often watching a good performance or explanation of some musical idea is what makes me want to pick up my guitar in the first place. Of course there's a balance to be found - just watching videos about things you would do if you weren't so busy watching videos isn't much use.