Many people are now talking about the “death of the ad-supported internet model,” and I can only say that it can’t come quickly enough.

The main reason why it all switched to ad-supported is the massive costs of storing and streaming all that high-definition video. And for what? So I can see every pore on Joe Rogan’s face while he sits in front of the mic and talks for 3 hours?

Or so that some video game dweeb can read his essay about why an obscure JRPG is the height of postmodern art over 30 minutes of game footage. Or all the channels trying to imitate Kurzgesagt with shitty animation and information they gathered from browsing Wikipedia.

Face it. Most of this video is unnecessary. 99.9% of all possible information can be relayed through text, pictures, and the occasional sound file.

Furthermore, most video content creators are unnecessary too. I can just read about a laptop’s specs and the reviewer’s experience with it. I don’t need LinusTechTips to stare at me with his reptilian eyes while he destroys the inferior product with an oversized novelty mallet.

Most of what’s on YouTube and other video-heavy social sites is not insightful, not creative, not informative, not fun, not sexy, and honestly shouldn’t exist at all.

  • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I agree to a point. In many cases, text would suffice for instruction.

    Certain topics of instruction benefit from well done video, though. Like, installing a lift kit. Yeah you could draw diagrams or use photos but video can give more spatial context of what fits where and what it all looks like from different angles. If it’s done properly.

    The problem is, it’s so easy to make terrible instructional videos that don’t show you any more context or information than a bad picture while also taking up more of your time to determine it is a bad video.

    My biggest pet peeve is that the creators have an incentive (or think they do) to yap on about introductory or irrelevant things for a ridiculous amount of time before getting to the point of the video, the stuff I’m there to watch. It drives me absolutely bonkers. Any time I find a video that is telling me how to do a thing within 15 seconds I heap praise on them in the comments. It doesn’t happen often.