YouTube Experience - How to Optimize Notifications and Improve Content Consumption Efficiency
I am an active YouTube viewer, particularly interested in topics related to artificial intelligence, financial technology, project management, and product management.
I frequently watch relevant YouTube videos and subscribe to channels that align with these interests. When I find a channel particularly engaging, I often press the bell notification button to receive updates.
Over the past two to three years, there have been numerous developments in artificial intelligence. As a result, I’ve subscribed to an increasing number of YouTube channels.
Initially, I enabled notifications for all these channels due to a fear of missing out on important content. However, this approach led to a significant increase in the number of notifications I received, making it difficult to keep up and often causing me to miss important updates.
I learned an important lesson through this experience and through internet research: if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. Enabling notifications for everything increases the likelihood of missing important information. I realized I needed to be more selective in my approach.
One solution was to disable notifications for less critical channels.
However, I discovered a useful workaround using YouTube’s RSS feed functionality.
I now use a feed reader application called Feedly. By copying a channel’s URL and pasting it into Feedly’s RSS feed section, I can automatically receive updates about new developments on these channels in my feed reader.
This method has provided additional benefits. Typically, when a new YouTube video notification arrives, you open a new browser tab to watch it. If you’re not interested in watching the full video, you might just read the description.
With the RSS feed approach, I can view descriptions and watch videos from a single interface, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tabs.
By reading video descriptions in the feed reader, I can quickly assess whether I want to watch a particular video. This allows me to efficiently browse through multiple YouTube videos without watching each one in its entirety.
The difference between following notifications on YouTube and following new videos in a feed reader is significant. The latter method enables me to quickly scan through numerous YouTube video descriptions and make informed decisions about which videos to watch, saving time and improving my content consumption efficiency.
