Dangers of YouTube
If I want to look at cat videos or "How To Use a CB Radio" then YouTube is adequate, but if I need accurate and up-to-date information on political issues, YouTube is the last service I would access, and then only if I needed a good laugh.
_________________
The mere fact that science may not yet adequately explain an object, event, or experience does not mean the immediate explanation should automatically default to a conspiratorial, extraterrestrial, paranormal, or supernatural cause.
The way I see it (not exhaustive) when it comes to credibility:
0. God Tier: Checking *multiple* credible sources to verify a claim
1. Science Tier: Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed
2. OK Tier: Science Daily, Scientific American, Wikipedia
3. Meh Tier: Most Mainstream Media
4. Crap Tier: Fox News, Breitbart, YouTube
5. Tinfoil Hat Filled With Batshit Tier: Infowars, 4chan, @realdonaldtrump
The issue with YouTube isn't that it lacks good content; there are many educational videos... The issue with YouTube is that these videos are hopelessly outnumbered by endless waves of videos filled with garbage...
0. God Tier: Checking *multiple* credible sources to verify a claim
1. Science Tier: Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed
2. OK Tier: Science Daily, Scientific American, Wikipedia
3. Meh Tier: Most Mainstream Media
4. Crap Tier: Fox News, Breitbart, YouTube
5. Tinfoil Hat Filled With Batshit Tier: Infowars, 4chan, @realdonaldtrump
The issue with YouTube isn't that it lacks good content; there are many educational videos... The issue with YouTube is that these videos are hopelessly outnumbered by endless waves of videos filled with garbage...
_________________
The mere fact that science may not yet adequately explain an object, event, or experience does not mean the immediate explanation should automatically default to a conspiratorial, extraterrestrial, paranormal, or supernatural cause.
Sweetleaf
Veteran
Joined: 6 Jan 2011
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 35,278
Location: Somewhere in Colorado
I am aware, and I always try to take any youtube videos with a grain of salt...like they aren't always fully accurate and there can be a lot of bias in some videos. Not sure how they'd really solve that though because it makes sense you will get recommended videos of the sort of content you like. I mean perhaps more should be done to combat any outright fake news/info being put out but I can see how that may be a little difficult to do with so many different sorts of content on youtube.
That said its by no means just entertainment nowadays...There are a lot of videos on DIY things and how repair certain items instead of buying a new one and even some various more educational type videos that talk about different animals and wildlife. IDK you just have to kind of use some judgement and don't take everything you see as absolute truth. I mean for instance I trust the sort of DIY videos where a person actually sits down and goes over the project vs some videos where it just shows 20 or more clips of the supposed end result of DIY projects half of which would not work or will not give the desired result and unfortunately sometimes even projects that could be dangerous without proper instructions.
But i mean it can also be used to put real time happenings, like you can film some messed up stuff going on and put it up to youtube(I am sure there are other platforms now to) at the very least tons of people will see it until youtube decides to keep it up or not. I saw a bunch of videos about the fires in California a couple years back, in one the guy filming even showed a couple burnt vehicles containing the charred remains of his neighbors from down the street. By now they may have removed the more graphic videos, but they were up long enough for plenty of people to see.
Also it has some functional uses to, the right trigger on my favorite gaming controller broke, but someone posted a video on taking apart the controller to fix the trigger on Youtube and that has proved helpful, may be able to salvage the controller and not have to buy a new one.
_________________
Tis the time to melt the Ice.
