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YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

thewalrus.ca

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Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#31
post #8

really engaging article. a couple comments: > treat loneliness as a serious health problem that could even lead to early death italics are mine. I've seen this written a lot of times, and I find it disappointing that we are focusing so much in reduced life expectancy. in my opinion, the real issue deserving the attention is the reduced life quality. now adressing the topic of the article: I think we should reflect mo…

Great point. The sharing economy destroyed an entire set of spaces like this... when hosting a couchsurfer, I was told that I could make a ton using Airbnb instead. That money wasn’t the point was lost on this guest — but thankfully not the many other world travelers I was able to share my local area with.

Airbnb or VBRO offers great experiences on their own, but introducing a transaction turns everyone into a service provider or customer, and brings a set of expectations to both.

Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is “research” supposed to mean in this case? It’s a philosophical proposition, one that has been expounded by thousands of cultures throughout history. If anything, justification for an easy, hedonistic life is the rarity.

Wow that paragraph is like the poster child for the logical fallacy called “appeal to tradition”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition

I don’t know if you’re looking for an actual discussion or just prowling around for opportunities to link to logical fallacies. Assuming the best intentions...

My question stands: what does research mean in this case? Are you looking for a scientific study which confirms or denies that “difficulty is more authentic?” It is a question beyond the purview of science. The arguments for such a view would be found in philosophical and religious texts.

Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is “research” supposed to mean in this case? It’s a philosophical proposition, one that has been expounded by thousands of cultures throughout history. If anything, justification for an easy, hedonistic life is the rarity.

Wow that paragraph is like the poster child for the logical fallacy called “appeal to tradition”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition

keiferski, I would guess research mean examining patterns of individuals faced with poverty and those that didn't in their childhood. Are people grown in poor household with lack of healthcare and struggling diseases better than those who didn't and lived relatively comfortably? If you learn something from facing difficulty or suffering then how does it materialize? What form does it take?

Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#34
post #19

A similar phenomenon is the use of pets as pseudo-children or relationship partners. Babies are expensive and ruin your sleep for years. Significant others can cheat on you, leave or simply get boring. A cat, however, just like these YouTube boyfriends, is fairly inexpensive, practically takes care of itself, will always love you and will never leave. It is a sort of infantalization of the relationship process. I thi…

Cat does not love you. It never leaves, cause you locked it. If you move away, cat prefers to stay. Treating children like pets would be effectively emotional abuse. And while dog can fill some of yours emotional needs, quite frankly, kids won't. I have children and had pet and I can tell you that those two are comparable in any way. Not just in easy vs hard scale, but it is fundamentally different relationship.

I agree completely. But the perception that they are comparable, that pets are sufficient to replace human connection, seems to be a growing trend.

Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#35
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the ads was only there to run youtube there would be much much less of them.

As of 2015 it was famously not profitable! Maybe they've added more adverts since then? I don't know but I would think at most YouTube earns a normal operating profit. I don't think it's printing money.

It was? Couldn't find anything about it more than that someone, unnamed, from google said it was more or less break even.

Alphabet doesn’t disclose how much money YouTube is making, but RBC Capital analyst Mark Mahaney estimates YouTube’s annual revenue has reached $10 billion and is increasing by as much as 40% a year. The growth makes YouTube “one of the strongest assets fundamentally on the Internet today,” Mahaney wrote in a research note this week.

https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-google-...

But I have a hard time believing it wasn't profitable in 2015 either. Sure, if they re-invest most of it and pays out the rest to youtubers as a way to market the platform then you can pretend it is breaking even.

Oh, and yes, the difference in ads between now and 2015 is huge. Likely close to an order of magnitude where I am, but that probably greatly varies depending on which market you are in.

Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that paragraph is like the poster child for the logical fallacy called “appeal to tradition”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_tradition

I don’t know if you’re looking for an actual discussion or just prowling around for opportunities to link to logical fallacies. Assuming the best intentions... My question stands: what does research mean in this case? Are you looking for a scientific study which confirms or denies that “difficulty is more authentic?” It is a question beyond the purview of science. The arguments for such a view would be found in philo…

Not that I necessarily agree that espousing your viewpoint requires research, but it might be constituted by studies showing correlations with more difficult but meaningful lives and long term contentedness/happiness, or with traits we generally see as positive, such as honesty.

Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#37
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree with you, but I also notice the slow but steady increase in ad content before, between, below all YouTube videos, that also seem to call back to my preferences, feelings, tastes, past interactions, etc. The question I always ask is: how long until YouTube removes the ability to skip ads altogether? How long until a painfully nontrivial portion of our browsing time is spent directly consuming propagand…

If you don't want to pay for it and you don't want to be 'consuming propaganda' who do you think should be paying to run YouTube for you?

Just like on Facebook, the ads are doing much more than ‘paying to run’ the platform. And moreover, why would YouTube do anything but continue to increase the amount of ad content? It directly translates to more cash and profit. Same goes for paying content creators less.

Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#38
post #8

really engaging article. a couple comments: > treat loneliness as a serious health problem that could even lead to early death italics are mine. I've seen this written a lot of times, and I find it disappointing that we are focusing so much in reduced life expectancy. in my opinion, the real issue deserving the attention is the reduced life quality. now adressing the topic of the article: I think we should reflect mo…

This is a good reminder to support your local library - one of the few public places left that doesn’t expect you to purchase anything.

Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#39
post #10
post #6

With all its overly discussed faults, YT is such an invaluable resource. There is so much free high-quality content: educational, sport, music, spiritual. YT should get some respect and recognition. I'm an avid yt music user. There is practically infinite musical content there never released on any other medium. It's an irreplaceable cultural treasure.

I totally agree with you, but I also notice the slow but steady increase in ad content before, between, below all YouTube videos, that also seem to call back to my preferences, feelings, tastes, past interactions, etc. The question I always ask is: how long until YouTube removes the ability to skip ads altogether? How long until a painfully nontrivial portion of our browsing time is spent directly consuming propagand…

> How long until a painfully nontrivial portion of our browsing time is spent directly consuming propaganda?

They'll be running commercials on television in a few years at this rate.

Re: YouTube Gives Us Love Without the Messiness

#40
post #31
post #8

really engaging article. a couple comments: > treat loneliness as a serious health problem that could even lead to early death italics are mine. I've seen this written a lot of times, and I find it disappointing that we are focusing so much in reduced life expectancy. in my opinion, the real issue deserving the attention is the reduced life quality. now adressing the topic of the article: I think we should reflect mo…

Great point. The sharing economy destroyed an entire set of spaces like this... when hosting a couchsurfer, I was told that I could make a ton using Airbnb instead. That money wasn’t the point was lost on this guest — but thankfully not the many other world travelers I was able to share my local area with. Airbnb or VBRO offers great experiences on their own, but introducing a transaction turns everyone into a servic…

Dan Ariely considered this distinction in his discussion of market vs. social transactions:

Described in: https://escherman.com/2009/04/09/social-norms-versus-market-...

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