Comment by abustamam | Hacker News Reader

Comment by abustamam | Hacker News Reader

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> many of the popular educational videos on YouTube are fun to watch and don't really teach you anything.

As a tangent, I think the concept of pop science has wasted so much time of what could be considered brilliant minds. I can't believe how much YouTube people I consider really smart consume under the guise of "learning stuff." And the videos are always designed to be addicting and to entice you to watch other of their stuff, which makes sense, because theyre a business, not a school.

I'm guilty of wasting time on YouTube as much as anyone else (I like watching stand-up routines and Red Bull extreme sports) but I am never under the guise that I'm doing anything productive with my time. Its okay to have fun learning, but I always felt that entertainment and education should be kept separate. You gotta learn something intentionally, not just get it served to you via algorithm.

Note im talking about the educational "shorts" not the 60+ minute deep dives that are basically a college level lecture.

I really like the term "edutainment" for this.

It's the kind of high-brow entertainment that makes you feel like you learn something.

For me, most "push" things are edutainment, whether that'd be Youtube videos or public-broadcaster television programs. Things you seek out yourself are not.

In a similar vein, there's "newstertainment" (news that makes you feel like it's important to watch, but actually changes nothing tangible about your life).

Well everyone needs some downtime, and then I think it's important to acknowledge that there is a range of quality within the category of "educational entertainment." You can learn a lot of interesting things from 3BlueOneBrown and Veritasium, even though neither compares to working through a textbook.

I agree, and I dont know much about the channels you mention but im referring more to the short videos with fast cuts that are just designed to keep you watching instead of teaching you anything. Its like the overly processed vegetables you see in many stores ‐ it seems healthy because its real veggies but its actually junk food even if it is better than sugary junk food.

I’m a bit too old for the YouTube generation (can’t stand the fast cuts and permanently agitated voices), but am absolutely guilty of reading a lot of pop-sci books. I feel like they do a better job at teaching stuff for the most part, but probably also make you fall into the trap of believing you actually learnt something…

On the other hand, I’m fine with not being an expert on topics outside of my domain, as long as I retain some basic knowledge and fun party facts. So there’s that.

There's a spectrum between "barely scientific entertainment" and "dry technical reference". Also, it's not fully a zero-sum tradeoff, great authors have written serious textbooks that are quite entertaining to read, and there are pop-sci books that do a great job at covering advanced material.

I can't watch Mark Rober's content because of this. He dilutes his remarkable engineering stunts into ADHD internet memes.

I do appreciate the literal college lectures on there. Hard to get the algorithm to surface them but they’re golden for learning. Of course I would be unshocked if the authenticity signals I’m tracking (AB.203 Lecture 3 video title, general hubbub and shuffling of chairs at start of video, university affiliated channel) are all faked by grifters 6 months from now.

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