Game Theory: Why Everyone HATES YouTube Shorts… And You Should Too!

It really saddens me how YouTube is moving away from longer videos. That's what I go to YouTube for. For the creators for listening to what they say

As someone with adhd I have been avoiding YouTube shorts and tik tok like the plague because I already have a bad attention span and I DO NOT want it to get worse

You totally hit the nail on the head of why I prefer YouTube to TikTok, even though they're so similar now with shorts. I HATE how passive TikTok is. I like to actively determine what I'm consuming. And I love interacting in the comments with others and really connecting with the creatots. It's been bugging me for awhile why i can't stand TikTok and this is exactly why

MatPat told us he was quitting secretly 2:16 😢

Co-signed. One additional thought: YouTube is not discussing the overall impacts of shorts on society in general.

Realizing that shorts and TikTok’s are passive as opposed to active explain why I feel so disgusted when I watch them for like half an hour cause I’m not doing anything, I hate being passive and stagnant, so this definitely explains it

This is actually something i have noticed recently, some channels that i watch suddenly dropped views from 200k+ in every video to barely reach 100k on the recent ones even though the content is pretty much the same.

2:18 , Matpat loves foreshadowing, even his retirement💀

“Normally this would be a dramatic chat on the couch but I’ve already got that pencilled in for January” oh boy did he 😭

YouTube really needs to make a “Restricted Shorts Mode” setting where you can block shorts from showing up on your Home Screen, remove the shorts tab from the app, and block scrolling if you find a short through search.

Who would have guessed his matpat Couch Talk was going to be goodbye internet

I just realized Matt forshadowed his talk about leaving Game Theory around the beginning, at 0:29 the YouTube title says “Say goodbye to your favorite YouTubers” and he says his couch chat will be later in January.

I definitely realized the addictive powers of YouTube shorts. I wish they would make it a separate app at least to remove the temptation.

That last point you made is right on the money - and adding to your point, many shorts creators feel themselves inferior to long-form youtubers. We feel like we're less worthy of being called a "YouTuber" because we can't manage to make the switch to long form content, or because we feel like our viewers don't care about us nearly as much. It adds to the burn-out and emotional toll of an isolated job a wholeeee lot. Personally, even though my entire internet presence was built off shorts, I'm really really disheartened by the effect they've have had on youtube as a whole.

I feel like IG is the same bc they really are in full on competition with TikTok. It gets boring actually…just scrolling thru nameless content. That’s why I still love YT the most. When mindlessly scroll I can and when I want long form content I can have that too, and all in one app. Plus when I stop scrolling thru shorts, it just sends me back to the last long form video I was watching

As a method of discovering new creators, shorts have some potential on YouTube. While I won't generally actively seek out someone's channel if I enjoyed their short, I would hope to start seeing their longer-form content show up on my video feed if I've been watching/liking their shorts or if I hit the subscribe button on their short. I'd like to imagine that this will happen with channels I might not have otherwise ever found.

I hate them personally for how addictive they can be and be unremovable, but I do like how it helps boost some channels.

One thing that has really bothered me about shorts especially when I follow a creator that does exclusive shorts content is finding the shorts you WANT to watch. Unlike long form videos if you go to someone's channel and look through their shorts none of them have the title listed so you just have to pick one based on the one frame of the short you see and hope it's what you want. Makes refinding a short to share with someone a nightmare.

What I especially hate about the shorts, it's that I see a notification from a youtuber I've subscribed to, but the "new video" is just a short that's just a short clip from his latest video. I think he could just stop posting those, but maybe this video will tell me, why he has to do it.

The mind-boggling thing I've realized is that I've watched nearly EVERY GAME THEORY video ever made, almost every film but every food and style theory so far. Iove the work Matt and the rest of Theorist, Santi, Steph, Leigh, Amy, Austin, and NEARLY EVERYONE has done for the channel. Identities matter in making sure youtube creators keep their following, otherwise they become short 20-second laughs on social media