I admit it, I have a love/hate relationship with YouTube. There are times when I absolutely love it, think it's the best thing since sliced bread, and that the person who conceived it was a genius and a Godsend.
But there are other times when I absolutely hate it, think it's the biggest abomination since the cell phone (more on that in a later blog), and that the person who conceived it is a total idiot and should be drawn and quartered.
So here's what I think about YouTube, the reasons why I love it and the reasons why I hate it.
Reasons Why I Love It
1. You can find out how to do just about anything. Need to change the oil in your car or bike? There's a video for that. Need to know how to housetrain an iguana? There's a video for that. Chances are, there's a video for just about anything you need to know on YouTube, and I'll admit that it's saved my butt more than once.
2. It's a wealth of knowledge about anything and everything. Want to know more about the pyramids? There's a video for that. Want to know the history of a person, place or thing? There's a video for that. And a great deal of these videos are published by reputable organizations such as The History Channel, for one.
3. It's free. All of this information and knowledge in video form is absolutely free.
4. It's available anytime, anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Either on your home computer or your cell phone, YouTube is there for you - all you have to do is click on the link and open it up, and you're in business.
Reasons Why I Hate It
1. You're flooded with too much information on a topic when you search for it. At that point the challenge becomes sorting through all of those videos to find the one that applies to your specific vehicle or specific task, and then you have to decide which of the videos are put out by people who know WTF they're doing (professionals) and which of them are put out by backyard/garage/shadetree mechanics/experts who think they know it all but really don't know shit.
2. It's a wealth of misinformation, disinformation, and plain bad advice. YouTube is a haven for every half-assed, self-taught, self-professed "expert" on everything under the sun, and YouTube gives them a medium to engage in their pious self promotion. And most of the time that "expert advice" they're giving you is nothing more than their opinion, which most of the time is based on everything but facts. And you know what they say about opinions, right?
3. It's not free. Sure, YouTube is free - to a point. NOTHING in this world is absolutely free, and the price you pay for having access to YouTube is advertising. They stick an ad in every-fuckin'-thing they put on there, no matter what. Before you see the two minute add on how to make anything, you're going to be forced to watch a 3 minute ad on something you never heard of or don't care about. And then, if the video is long enough, they're going to shove another ad into it - or two, or three, or four depending on the length of the video. The only good thing about this particular gripe is that they give you the option of skipping the ad, but you have to sit through 30 seconds of it first. And the only way you're going to get away from this and not have to watch ads EVER is to subscribe. That's called "extortion," and I don't play that game. Ever.
4. You can't get away from it, no matter where you are. Aside from being full of good, relevant videos that will entertain you and/or make your life easier, it's also filled with inane, immature, childish and downright stupid shit that would annoy Ghandi to the point where he'd be ready to rip your throat out. And thanks to the marvel of the cellular phone, you can now be subjected to endless repeats of "Jackass" or "Family Guy" outtakes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no matter where you are. And of course, the moron watching the video isn't using ear buds and he has the volume cranked up to 100% so everyone in the county can hear it.
And there you have it. So, the question is, do I like YouTube or not? Well, overall, yes. I will say that I personally have had more good experiences with it than bad, but on the flip side I will also say that when I have a bad experience with it, the experience is twice as bad as a good one has ever been.
Will I continue to use it? Sure. If I don't like it, I can just turn it off.
And that's the only "free" thing about it.
Deo Vindice
IHC
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