[matheusmoreira]

> However, I've curated my YouTube feed to be almost entirely stuff that is interesting, educational, and that I think I'm getting value from.

Those creators are still making orders of magnitude less money than people who make zero content attention grabbing controversy meme slop videos.

[ryukoposting]

> Those creators are still making orders of magnitude less money than people who make zero content attention grabbing controversy meme slop videos.

Off the top of my head, Gamers Nexus is a counterpoint. Obviously not Mr Beast-scale, but we're also looking at a huge difference in target demographic breadth.

Besides, is YouTube any worse in this regard than what came before it? Substance-free reality TV predates YouTube. For as long as cheap printing and mail services have been around, artists have had strong incentive to go design ads rather than pursue their art independently.

YouTube definitely has a race to the bottom going on, but it's not all-consuming and well-researched, high-quality material is still profitable for creators as long as you know how to play the thumbnail game.

[matheusmoreira]

> Besides, is YouTube any worse in this regard than what came before it? Substance-free reality TV predates YouTube.

I extend the same criticisms towards traditional television as well.

They're both just symptoms of the advertising problem. Advertisers are the enablers of this stuff. They'll back any content that draws attention, and the ones which draw the most are memes, controversy, generally negative value slop. People endlessly scrolling apps with infinite content being fed instant gratification with product offerings in between. Algorithms that actively push them towards controversy and hate because it maximizes "engagement".

[MetaWhirledPeas]

> Substance-free reality TV predates YouTube

And I would say 99% of it is worse than the goofy YouTube stuff. Reality TV is mostly people hooking up and pretending to fall in love.

[MetaWhirledPeas]

But are they enjoying what they are doing? If so, then what difference does it make how much cash YT hands to Mr. Beast?

While many try to make a living off YouTube (and some do) there are no guarantees offered nor should any be expected.

[matheusmoreira]

> If so, then what difference does it make how much cash YT hands to Mr. Beast?

I think it matters a lot. It creates massive distortions in society's perception of value.

Because of YouTube's advertising, you have people becoming multimillionaires by making total nonsense videos where they do things like react to other videos. Literally a YouTube video of a guy watching other YouTube videos, pausing and saying whatever pops into his head. Like this comment section. And he gets millions of dollars for it.

There's something deeply wrong with a society where you are rewarded for nothing. The people who actually do something tend to feel cheated when they see it happen. Imagine being a professional, a trades person and seeing a random dude get 1000x richer than you because he said stupid shit on the internet. And if you point it out, some startup founder accuses you of sour grapes.

Society should think deeply about the incentives it offers to people. Because people will respond to them.