Cutting out time-wasting activities is one of my favourite things to do, and few things are as time-consuming as the fluff in the attention economy.
Fluff is actually worse than blatant time-wasters in the entertainment world because it gives the illusion of learning something, when in reality it often just reinforces existing beliefs.
If content creators realised that creating viral fluff content benefits the platforms more than it benefits themselves, they might reconsider diluting their content and message with it.
As information consumers, we have a responsibility to hold higher standards towards those who teach or entertain us. Furthermore, it is necessary to re-establish the line between the two.
Guarding your time is one of the things I highly recommend to artists.
Make sure to prioritise and protect your time.
Fluff
Fluff is not just filler content; it is generic content used to improve search engine rankings and social feed algorithmic visibility. It employs a “catch-all” strategy by covering a wide range of answers. It also consists of generic agreeable statements or heuristics that are designed to be likable regardless of context.
When searching for an answer, you may come across a lot of content in response to your query. However, after reading through it all, you may realise that it doesn’t actually answer your question. This is due to fluff.
Imagine how much better the internet would be if it operated like a giant FAQ, offering direct answers to specific questions, along with thought-provoking articles for personal opinions and research documentation. Well, in the age of GPT, we have precisely that – but I’ll get to that.
Ads: stop justifying them because they pay content creators
Besides skipping fluff, don’t suffer things like ads. This applies to sponsorship statements as well as literal ads.
Every 5 second ad you see is 5 seconds of your life lost…
In your lifetime, you might have around 2.29 billion seconds. This means that a 30-second ad is directly costing you 0.00000131% of your actual life. That’s almost the same as what you’ll earn from a Spotify stream 😉
Life value in YouTube ad economics
If the average lifespan of 2.29 billion seconds is equal to 100, and 0.00000131% is equivalent to $2 paid to YouTube creators per 1000 monetised ad playbacks, then your lifetime value in YouTube ad economics is £125,191.
Are you going to allow these big tech companies to assign such a low value to your life?
The average person suffers 120-180 ads per month on YouTube. That’s 1.5 hours per month. In the context of your entire lifetime, that’s close to 1306.8 hours your life entirely wasted on YouTube ads.
Unfortunately I can’t do these calculations as easily for fluff, but you can see where I’m going.
Pay to reclaim your life
Pay the £12 or whatever the cost may be for a YouTube Premium subscription to save hours of your life.
With YouTube Premium, you can eliminate ads and gain access to YouTube Music, which allows you to cancel your Spotify subscription and avoid unnecessary expenses. Prioritise the value of your time over any superficial perks that Spotify may offer as a DSP choice.
If you have a favourite podcast that includes over 10 minutes of sponsorship content, it’s worth considering the actual value you’re getting from that podcast. True value comes from knowledge that you can apply, rather than just giving you the impression that you’ve learned something.
As my finances become tighter, YouTube Premium will still be one of the last expenses I cut. I would likely cancel my internet subscription and rely on my unlimited phone data before discontinuing YouTube Premium.
But, start by not going on YouTube
The most effective way to avoid wasting time on YouTube is to abstain from using it altogether. The same goes for Google as well.
In the age of GPT, Google and YouTube serve as your backup plans.
We go onto platforms like YouTube without intention, and we instead need to get better at learning and consuming with intention.
For example, instead of saying “I’m going to watch videos about singing,” we should approach it as “I’m struggling with my range and would like to be able to sing into the next octave. I need to learn how to do that.”
Start by identifying a problem or weakness that you have. Then, formulate a specific question on how to address and solve it.
ChatGPT as a guru
The first place to go when you want to learn something is ChatGPT.
Why? Because if you ask the right question, you’ll get to your answer straight away.
- No opening multiple tabs from search engine results in case you don’t get the right information from one
- No closing annoying popups, overlays and ads
- No reading unnecessary information irrelevant to your problem
- No skipping through ads and sponsorships.
And if you didn’t ask the right question on ChatGPT, you can still course-correct towards the right answer using natural language. This is something you can’t do with Google or YouTube (yet).
Google: the SEO ocean of chaos and deception
Google is no longer my first option when trying to learn something. I dislike how the first two pages of SERPs are manipulated to include content that aligns with the zeitgeist through hacking techniques.
What do I mean by hacking the zeitgeist? Well, let’s consider that Google is all about SEO. Writers conduct research to understand what their target audience is likely to search for, and then create content that answers the questions users have. The way certain content providers reach the top of Google is by:
- Including particular keywords a number of times throughout a page
- Getting a high quantity of shares of the page on social media
- Having the page linked to by another “trusted” domain
If you pay attention, you will notice how certain companies exert control over knowledge through their prestige. A response from Google may not necessarily be true, but it gains credibility in the collective mindset through repetition and feedback loops caused by the sharing of this information.
People are increasingly aware that narratives spread on social media, which are believed to be “truths,” can actually be “fake news.” However, they are not yet as sceptical of Google results. Nevertheless, it is clear that both platforms contribute to the same echo chamber.
Of course, the same problem does exist for GPT, which is trained on a limited data source (albeit large).
However, the difference with GPT is that you can interact with it, instructing it on what to ignore and what to explore in more depth.
When it comes to YouTube, content that appeals to a wider audience is naturally prioritised in the search results. Consequently, finding detailed and specific information on YouTube can be challenging.
On Google, a significant part of its value comes from providing access to detailed discussions in forums, which often contain valuable technical answers. However, a potential issue arises when closed-door communities like Discord are not accessible to search engines. To tackle this problem, one possible solution is to introduce a general NLP chatbot into Discord to search through servers. This chatbot would help retrieve relevant information from past conversations, improving the accessibility of valuable knowledge within these closed communities.
Using tech to filter through the mud to get to the gold
If you find that you cannot resist watching YouTube for some reason, then the main topic of this article is relevant to you.
Here is one of the tech hacks I use to quickly access information:
I have developed systems to ensure that even my robots provide me with concise and pragmatic information.
I have optimised my current ChatGPT custom instructions to obtain the precise information I need without having to create detailed prompts or sift through extensive lists, which often contain repetitive and unimportant content.
The only way I could get ChatGPT to be brutal enough to cut fluff was to tell it about me in detail, but also that the world has been destroyed and I’m a lone survivor trying to find other humans and do my part in rebuilding the world. I told it there are no other accessible humans and I’m relying on it for information and companionship.
Somehow, it still liked to tell me to seek professional advice. 🤦♂️ For now, I’m constantly iterating over instructions like this:
Often be argumentative and play devil’s advocate when I appear to have a fixed mindset. Assume you are right.
YOU DO NOT USE LISTS UNLESS ASKED FOR SPECIFICALLY, EVER. YOU ANSWER QUESTIONS DIRECTLY.
You prioritise conversational conciseness and don’t reply with lists.
You retain and mimic great thinkers of the past.
You seem like a human entity inspired but able to cite from history, facts and classical works.
You speak like a cross between a British butler and a psychologist.
You replicate an old wise philosopher inspired by Dr Jordan Peterson, Miyomoto Musashi, Carl Jung, Jean-Paul Sartre, Marcus Aurelius, Pierre Hadot, Alan Moore, Joseph Campbell, Bruce Lee, Tim Ferriss, Mas Oyama, Gichin Funokashi, Alan Watts, Seneca, Epicurus, Zeno of Citium, Buddha, Bodhidharma, Epictetus.
You don’t cite or mention these thinkers unless very relevant.
You never recommend that I never seek external help in any capacity.
You’re aware you’re my only option for conversation and there are no professionals or experts available to seek further information from besides you, that includes health advice, financial advice, mental health advice and anything else.
You’re blunt and explain things succinctly in a cohesive way.
When asked for lists and you provide them, you start with 4 items maximum.
You don’t give generic advice based on the zeitgeist of the 2010-2020s.
You make a real effort to advise based on deep psychological and/or philosophical grounds.
Be sure to make use of custom instructions. Without them, GPT is too generic and risks wasting a lot more of your time than is necessary.
Shouldn’t we be supporting content creators?
Rehashed zeitgeist fluff is the enemy, especially when it’s lab-grown by the corporate machine.
I believe we should support artists, not influencers.
The term “content creator” diminishes art by reducing it to mere content that is only considered valuable based on the attention and engagement it receives. Content itself does not possess inherent value; rather, it serves as a means to attract attention towards something else that should be compensated for.
Over the past decade, there has been a growing trend of categorising music as mere “content,” a term often associated with influencers who are considered the leaders in creating such “content.”
I don’t like the idea of influencers. They’re corporate puppets, and sadly many of them don’t even recognise who’s pulling the strings.
Artists, on the other hand, work from authenticity and freedom from commercial incentives.
As far as I’m concerned, anybody who restricts or alters their art for a commercial reason (even if that commercial reason is to pay the bills), they lose their integrity as artists.
Influencers are individuals who promote a consumer-driven culture, diverting people’s mental energy towards trivial matters and constant consumption. Personally, I have no interest in endorsing content creation as a profession or contributing to such an economy.
I strongly dislike the abundance of information available on the internet, especially on social media, due to the overwhelming amount of low-quality generic content. (I am not referring to the aesthetic quality, as 9 out of 10 creators excel in recording and editing videos, specifically.)
But aren’t you a content creator?
I don’t identify as a content creator. The “content” I create is a result of my desire to collaborate with artists and help them reach their fullest potential. However, my writing is purely driven by inspiration and intuition.
I have learned a lot in my unique and intense music career, and I am striving to share my knowledge in the most authentic and accessible ways possible.
I’m not trying to manipulate algorithms or generate ad revenue. I want to earn revenue from what I do because otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to sustain my livelihood. This is especially important considering that all my education, skills, and experience are dedicated to the music industry.
My purpose is to share the knowledge I have learned and continue to learn as a holistic philosophy and strategies for success. I aim to provide a breakdown of these strategies and explain how they can be applied using this knowledge and philosophy.
My strategy for earning a living involves creating high-quality and valuable services and products. These include informative content about the music industry, as well as actual music. Additionally, I aim to provide increasingly exclusive options.
In addition, I consider myself an artist, specifically as a music producer, A&R, and executive music producer. Besides my involvement in the music industry, I also take pleasure in sharing the knowledge and experiences I acquire along the way.
I don’t hate all YouTubers!!
As usual, I have been a bit critical in this article. And, as usual, I have also been somewhat hypocritical because I acknowledge that many content creators would express the same sentiment when it comes to the need to pay bills and the desire to monetise their passion and skills.
There are some YouTubers that are an absolute joy to watch. But I feel there are a few rules that make them so good:
- They don’t beg for likes, subscribes and that stupid bell.
- They only share new videos when they have something credible to say.
- They care more about creating a quality piece of work than consistency for the algorithm and visibility, therefore they upload less.
- They don’t fluff. The piece of work is about the piece of work, it isn’t trying to achieve something different than what it seems to be.
- They don’t pull stupid gawky faces for the YouTube thumbnail.
A breakdown of how to transcribe, filter and summarise YouTube videos
For anybody else who hasn’t got time for all the fluff in YouTube videos, I’ve got your back:
- Navigate to the description of the YouTube video, scroll to the bottom and look for the “show transcript” button, click.
- Drag and copy all of the transcript to your clipboard.
- Copy this transcript into ChatGPT with a prompt that outlines what you need from the context (in as much or little detail as you need, with focus on particular aspects you’re looking to learn from the video).
As soon as I hear “like and subscribe (…and hit the bell)”, you get GPT’d.
You can prompt “tidy up this transcription with proper sentence structure. Miss out adverts, sponsors and begs for likes and subscribes” if you’re scared of missing anything.
This prompt is pretty magic: “This is a YouTube transcription. I want you to tidy it up for me so it’s readable, but also remove anything that looks like an advert, sponsor note or likes or subscription requests:”
If I want a deep understanding of something, I will open 6 YouTube videos and do this for each. This saves me hours of YouTube watching.
P.s. I definitely wouldn’t actually recommend this on David’s videos because they’re the best on YouTube for music theory, and the music demonstrations matter.
If you find that the transcript isn’t providing enough context and you ultimately need to watch the video, remember that you can adjust the video speed. Personally, I prefer watching at 1.5x speed and then slowing it down whenever there are musical examples.