I used to watch a lot of YouTube stuff (like probably a good ten hours a week) for years. Since covid lock down (4 years ago!) I have barely watched anything on it. I still add videos to my watch later play list but I know I'll never watch them all as I've got hundreds of videos there...

I only go on YouTube about once a month and I use it exclusively with either Newpipe or heavily modified on my PC. I mostly use it to watch trailers of games I am interested in, so I think that I would not be really affected.

I guess yes. I use it from time to time via NewPipe to look up some bike repair stuff but I guess I could easily find that somewhere else in the web. But I think this could be a generation thing, I know many people only a few years younger who absolutely depend on random internet people explaining the news to them in video format or stuff like that.

It would be tough in the beginning but sure. I’ve watched everything interesting anyw… oh what’s that? Another rabbit hole!

Yeah it’s undeniable that YouTube is getting difficult to get rid of. There do exist some alternatives like Vimeo or peertube, but as others say, lack of content is their biggest problem. Using alternative frontend is relying on YouTube after all, so there’s no way we can live without it, unless they do something very horrible, like what Reddit did to us.

Especially with the Premium algorithm, it's just so good at finding super niche stuff that's pretty interesting. Been watching some Netflix shaming levels of documentaries made by super passionate people.

I kind of hate the privacy nightmare but it actually delivers really well for me.

I don't get the appeal of YouTube. I use it for maybe the odd music video or something, but often you'll just get someone's annoying commentary instead of the actual thing.

I live without it and it's great! Try it.

I sometimes take music from there to add to my offline collection, other than that I very rarely use it.

Everything I need can be found somewhere else

Honestly it depends. A lot of my online time in the last ~5 years has strayed away from YouTube. Most of my time is just spent playing musicbee while browsing anidb/ MAL/ MFC, searching for rares / chatting on soulseek, or watching anime / movies. But YouTube does come undeniably handy for those times where you want something you can't find anywhere else online, like people going solo into hard-to-access countries to record their journeys, or tutorials that explain things in much more detail than text could due to visual demonstration, or more in-depth reviews of products where the video makes it a lot easier to feel the size / scale of the product I'm looking at.

Could I do it? Sure. But it would definitely be hard for a long time, as I track down various blogs / self hosted websites with what I liked to use YouTube for. But honestly that kind of internet might be better. Or if a smaller platform would gain more traction so YouTube wasn't the only option. I think that would be ideal.

I barely use YouTube in the first place

Yes? I'd miss it for about a week, then I'd fill the time I'd spend on Youtube with other things. My to-read shelf has a healthy number of books on it. I could subscribe to a science news website or two. I'd really miss the how-tos, but there are ways to get that information too.

Not if you're into music or you work in the industry (venues, producing, etc..): everything is on YouTube and Spotify, light years ahead of places like SoundCloud, Beatport, etc

With alternate interfaces? Absolutely.

If not though... I mean I would live, but I'd really rather be able to at least use it occasionally — at least for educational purposes. There just aren't any adequate alternatives.

Yes.

I wouldn't really miss it all that much. I've always treated YouTube as a fun novelty where I can watch people's homemade videos, but it's almost all polished commercial grade content now, with some exceptions.

Those software and settings that make it tolerable, such as Tubular and using uBO/Sponsorblock/Firefox, are extremely easy to find and use. But I wouldn't miss it all that much if it became unusable.

I probably could if i had to, that’s what i tell myself at least. For now though it’s my primary source of entertainment.

I only primarily watch two channels on YouTube and while I would miss them I could get the content from articles that they reference anyway so it wouldn't kill me but I wouldn't particularly like it either.

I haven’t been to YouTube in over a decade. Granted, many embedded videos have been hosted on YouTube. I see a need for video hosting, and I’m not sure how that could be sustainable without advertising.

Perhaps there could be something like a a torrent, where people volunteer a certain amount of free space, and files are downloaded in chunks from whomever is available at the time? There could be one central repository, with clones, that keeps track, and distributes these chunks in the most efficient way, and moves frequently accessed data to faster hosts.

I could, but why would I? That makes no sense from a social perspective, if someone links me a video and we want to talk about it, I'll watch it. If a person whose content I want to see happens to release that on YouTube, I'll watch it.

Unless you meant it another way?

i dunno, especially the music is really vast availability of full albums etc. Youtube + ublock is kinda my go to music. Used to search and store gigabytes, but it's just not the same, not as easy. If youtube dies (ergo: it succeeds in blocking adblocking and third party such as newpipe), i'll have a hard time finding alternatives tbh, that are just as user friendly.

The only thing I use it for is Dreaming Spanish, and it's months since I've watched any of that content, so I'll say yeah, I think I'll be ok in a world without Youtube

Maybe yes, Maybe not.

Most of the youtubers I used to watch years ago have become full-time Twitch streamers and their channels now only serve for highlights. My currently watched content revolves mostly around memes of specific games (most of which may also be available in other platforms at the expense of subtitles).

At least for now I can say that I could live without Youtube as ~90% of my entertainment on the web currently comes from outside the platform.

I dont feel YouTube has much to offer. I actually really dont like finding advice in video format. Id much rather have it as a post somewhere.

Entertainment wise i never use YouTube.

I never watch videos unless I have to so yeah

I only watch movie and game trailers on YouTube, so yes, it would not bother me if they would be bankrupt tomorrow.