The algorithm isn't trying to help, but YouTube or Reddit or FB or whatever is addicting anyways unless they design an algorithm explicitly to reduce engagement by giving you stuff you don't like.
I don't think they need to go that far. The algorithms could be optimized for long-term personal growth. Always pushing you to expand your boundaries in healthy ways. That kind of growth is usually mildly uncomfortable but rewarding. You'll only want so much of it per day. They'd be replacing endless cheap carbs with exercise.
companies curate, but ultimately we're talking about user generated content, whose popularity at some point in life came from the fact that a lot of people chose to engage with it. The only difference now is that you dont need to be some a-list celebrity to get this engagement. A camera, an idea, and a bit of video editing can make you go viral.
even if we stripped down all the engagement algorithms and made it some "pure" HN-style "votes determine curation" (which is a trap in and of itself, but I diagress), you'd be surprised how similar the site layout would look. Arguably even worse because bigger creators get more views and likes by nature of being big.
YouTube maybe could be optimized that way, but if the banners they stick in my way that take no feedback and accept no dismissal as an invitation to never return are any indication they would do a hatchet job tweaking their algorithm in that direction. What they do very well is introducing me to new music and interesting videos on old tech and games. Absolutely fantastic entertainment platform and probably no more addictive than television was but I feel like I’m also the only one that likes the YouTube algorithm.
Also that kind of tweak would just be paternalistic nonsense, on principle.