Why You Should Stop Watching YouTube (Yes, Even This Video)

0:00All righty, chat. Today we're going to

0:02talk about how to stop watching YouTube

0:04in 2026. And I recognize the absolute

0:07irony of me telling you to do that as a

0:10YouTuber. But here's what I'm seeing,

0:12and it's pretty disturbing. We're seeing

0:15a lot of people watch more and more

0:17self-help content on the internet. And

0:20as you watch things like this channel,

0:22which by the way, a lot of our content

0:24is great. I highly recommend it. There's

0:26an insidious problem that's starting to

0:29grow, which is that people are watching

0:31content like this. They're listening to

0:34podcasts. We're doing all kinds of stuff

0:36for our benefit, but it's not actually

0:39resulting in a lot of benefit. So,

0:41here's how this works. I decide at some

0:43point to waste a little bit of time.

0:45Maybe I'm taking a break from work.

0:47Maybe I'm going to the restroom. And so,

0:49I decide to open up something like

0:50YouTube because I want a little bit of a

0:52distraction. I want to entertain myself

0:54a little bit. And then a really really

0:56sneaky thought creeps in which is that

0:58if I'm going to waste my time, why don't

1:01I watch something productive, right? So

1:03instead of watching some standup comedy

1:06or some like, you know, improv comedy

1:08sketch or something like that on

1:09YouTube, why don't I pull up a Dr. K

1:11video or a productivity video or a

1:14podcast and at least that way when I'm

1:16wasting time, I'm actually learning

1:18something. So it's not really a waste of

1:21time, right? That turns out to be an

1:24incredibly insidious thought because

1:28what I want you all to think about for a

1:29moment is what determines the self-help

1:33content that you watch. The scary thing

1:35is that our job as YouTubers is to make

1:39content that is not helpful, but that is

1:42palatable, that is entertaining, that is

1:45enjoyable. The metrics we're measured on

1:48are not randomized control trials where

1:51people look at, you know, how much

1:52YouTube you watch and how much you

1:54actually get better. Those are not the

1:56kinds of videos that we make. We make

1:58videos that are entertaining. We make

2:00videos that get people to click them. We

2:02make videos that people will watch to

2:04the end. And so, what we're actually

2:06doing is making content that isn't

2:09designed to be helpful. It's designed to

2:11be consumed. Now, before we get into

2:14like, oh my god, all YouTubers are evil.

2:17I want to take a moment and just share

2:18with you that that's actually your

2:21fault, not ours. Because I've tried

2:23this. If I made a 2hour really, really

2:27really, really helpful video, but it was

2:30boring, but it didn't have a clickbait

2:33title, but it was not something that was

2:35easily doable, who would watch that

2:38video? And it turns out that the answer

2:40is no one. So, there's a very subtle

2:43problem here, which is that the

2:45self-help content on the internet is not

2:48designed in a way to be helpful. It's

2:50designed in a way to be consumed. But

2:52that doesn't mean that it isn't helpful,

2:54right? So, like people watch this

2:55channel. It's hilarious. There's

2:57actually a study at the American

2:58Psychiatric Association that's being

3:00presented this year on healthy gamers

3:03content. So, this is wild. like we are

3:05actually being studied by people at the

3:08American Psychiatric Association for the

3:10value of the content that we produce.

3:12And it turns out that our content is

3:14about as useful as the American

3:16Psychiatric Association's content.

3:18Right? So these are people that are not

3:19trying to be entertaining. They're

3:21trying to be helpful. And I watch

3:23self-help content. I listen to podcasts.

3:25And there's a lot of good stuff there.

3:28Right? And there are absolutely people

3:30that have been a part of this community,

3:31have watched this content. It has

3:33transformed their lives and they've

3:35moved on. The problem though is that

3:37there are people who have watched

3:39content for years. There there's people

3:41who consume every podcast on the planet.

3:43They watch for hours and hours and hours

3:45and hours and hours and they don't

3:47translate it into something. So then the

3:49question becomes what's the difference?

3:52And in order to understand that we have

3:54to dig into the psychology a little bit

3:56more. When people hear about our

3:57coaching program, their first [music]

3:59response is usually, "Why would I work

4:00with another human being when I can

4:03watch YouTube videos all on my own?"

4:05Working with a coach is about amplifying

4:07your time and effort. [music] We're

4:09great at wanting things and even making

4:11some progress, but we usually struggle

4:14with follow through or have some kind of

4:15setback. [music] And that's exactly

4:17where working with a coach can help.

4:18Coaches provide personalized support to

4:20help you set appropriate [music] goals,

4:22make progress, and even work through

4:24setbacks. Just let us know what your

4:26goals are, what kind of support you're

4:28looking for, and we'll match you with

4:29the best coach for your unique needs.

4:32Check out the link in the description

4:33below to see if coaching is right for

4:35you. So, it comes down to this idea of

4:38let me just watch some content and be

4:40more efficient, right? So, this is

4:42something that happens so often where

4:44like if I'm sitting down to do some

4:46dishes or clean my kitchen, I'm going to

4:48turn on a podcast. If I'm waiting for a

4:51queue to pop in a game, I'm going to

4:53have healthy gamer GI and Dr. Okay, on

4:55my second screen. So, at least I'm using

4:57that time efficiently. And so, this

4:59self-help content that we watch becomes

5:02bonus. It becomes free. It becomes

5:05incredibly efficient. It becomes

5:07something that isn't a priority that I'm

5:10dedicating my time to, it starts to

5:13become extra. And the problem with that

5:15is that if it's something that's extra,

5:17if it's something that's free, that

5:19means it doesn't cost me anything. I'm

5:22gaining something without spending

5:24anything. And the moment we shift into

5:27that idea, that's when we run into a

5:30huge problem. Because the moment that

5:32our brain starts to think this is

5:33something that I'm getting for free, at

5:35that point we become unwilling to pay a

5:39price to actually improve our life

5:42because we have tricked our brains or

5:44our brains have tricked us into thinking

5:46that this is something I can get for

5:48free. So, there's a really good example

5:50of this which comes from something

5:52called motivational interviewing, which

5:54is an evidence-based technique for

5:56helping people overcome addictions. So,

5:59in motivational interviewing, we learn

6:00about something called ambivalence,

6:02which is sort of this internal conflict.

6:05I want to make a change, but I don't

6:06want to make a change. So, here's the

6:08way that this looks. When I start out

6:11making a change, when I decide to make a

6:13change, I think about the benefit of the

6:15change, which is a far far far away.

6:17Let's say that it's January of 2026 and

6:19I'm going to sign up for a gym

6:21membership. When I sign up for a gym

6:24membership, what motivates me to do

6:25that? It's the benefit of going to the

6:27gym. It's thinking to myself, okay, if I

6:29go to the gym for 6 months this year, if

6:31I work out three times a week, I'm going

6:32to get an awesome beach bod. I'm going

6:34to be ready for summer. It's going to

6:35improve my health. It's going to be

6:37really good for my mental health. There

6:38going to be all these benefits. We do

6:40things because of the benefits. And so

6:43the moment that I sign up for the gym,

6:45I'm thinking about all the benefits but

6:47not thinking about the costs. And then

6:49we run into a problem because when I

6:51actually go to the gym, what I do is pay

6:54the costs without actually getting a

6:57benefit. Right? I don't have a Beachbod,

7:00the first time I go to the gym and I'm

7:02huffing and puffing and sweating on the

7:04treadmill and wondering why I ever came

7:06here and I want to stop and I want to

7:07leave early and oh my god, I'm so out of

7:09shape. We start to have all of these

7:10negative thoughts. So there's something

7:12really interesting about human behavior,

7:14which is that when we think about a

7:15goal, it's all upside. And as we move

7:17towards the goal, the cost actually

7:20increases. This is why we don't stick

7:23with stuff. We start something and we're

7:24like, "Oh my god, this turned out to be

7:26so much harder than I thought." And then

7:28we decide to move in the opposite

7:29direction. Okay, forget about the gym.

7:30Now what I'm going to do is make a video

7:32game because that would be really cool.

7:33I'd make a lot of extra income. I love

7:35video games. It'd be awesome to make a

7:37game. I'm so excited. I have all these

7:38ideas. And then you start the process of

7:40learning how to code and then you run

7:42into bugs and then you run into more

7:44bugs and you run into more bugs and then

7:46you realize all the work that you put in

7:47doesn't really work because you weren't

7:48sort of thinking about the architecture

7:50of the game at the very beginning and so

7:52then you quit. The way we help people in

7:54motivational interviewing is by helping

7:56them appreciate the cost. And so if we

8:00want to stop wasting our time with

8:03self-help content, there's one really

8:05simple thing that we need to do. We need

8:08to start separating out improvement from

8:12entertainment. It's not something that

8:14we're doing extra. It's if you are going

8:17to improve something, that should be the

8:19dedicated goal that you spend. It's not

8:22on your second monitor. You are going to

8:24sit down and intentionally

8:27learn something for the sake of

8:29implementation. And like I said, a lot

8:31of people have benefited from this

8:33channel. I have benefited from a lot of

8:35the great content on the internet. And

8:37here's the difference between people who

8:39benefit and people who don't benefit.

8:41Some people start doing the thing and

8:45then consume content in a targeted way

8:48to improve the thing. I'll give you all

8:51an example from my life. I like watching

8:53cooking videos. But the cooking videos

8:55that are helpful to me are not the

8:57random videos that I click on because I

9:00think the thumbnail is cool. It's stuff

9:02like, okay, if I'm going to learn how to

9:03grill, I'm going to spend some time

9:05grilling. And once [snorts] I spend some

9:07time grilling, I run into problems with

9:09the things that I grill. My carrots are

9:11not tender, and if they get tender, they

9:14get burned. This was a huge problem that

9:15I ran into. So then I'm going to watch a

9:18targeted video to help me solve that

9:21problem. Here's the big difference. The

9:23work, the energy investment, the cost

9:26comes first. That is actually the

9:28primary thing. and watching content to

9:32supplement that comes second. It is not

9:34something extra that I'm doing. It's not

9:36something that I get for free. I pay the

9:38price upfront. So, if y'all want to stop

9:40wasting time on YouTube or Tik Tok or

9:42Instagram, one thing that you need to

9:45do, there's no more free extra or

9:47efficiency of learning. Either you are

9:50learning or you are wasting time. Don't

9:54confuse the two. Hey y'all, hope you

9:55enjoyed today's video. We talk about a

9:57bunch of topics like this on the

9:59channel, so be sure to subscribe for

10:00more. If you're already subscribed, GG,

10:03and we'll see you in chat.

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10:15[music]

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