You open the app. You just want to see how to fix a leaky faucet or maybe catch a highlight from the game last night. Instead, you're met with a 30-second unskippable ad for a mobile game you’ll never play, followed by a 15-second "bumper" ad. By the time the creator actually starts talking, you’ve forgotten why you even clicked. It’s a common sentiment lately. People are shouting into the void of Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) that YouTube has become unwatchable, and honestly, they aren't just being dramatic.
The platform is undergoing a fundamental shift. What used to be a quirky repository for home videos and "Broadcast Yourself" energy has morphed into a hyper-monetized, algorithmic maze that feels more like linear television but with worse UX.
It’s the friction. That’s the problem.
Every click now feels like a negotiation. You're negotiating with the ad-blocker detection scripts, the "SponsorBlock" segments where the creator spends three minutes talking about a VPN, and the "Join" button pop-ups. It’s exhausting.
The Ad-Pocalypse and the War on Blockers
Late in 2023 and throughout 2024, Google went on the offensive. They started a global "effort to urge viewers with ad blockers to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium." If you’re using uBlock Origin or similar extensions, you’ve likely seen the dreaded "Ad blockers violate YouTube's Terms of Service" popup.
For many, this was the tipping point.
The volume of ads has increased exponentially. It’s not just one at the start anymore. You get mid-rolls every few minutes, often placed by an automated system that cuts the creator off mid-sentence. It ruins the flow of a video. Imagine watching a tense scene in a documentary only to be interrupted by a loud, bright jingle for laundry detergent. It’s jarring. It’s a vibe killer.
And let’s talk about the quality of those ads. Since the "Adpocalypse" years ago, brand safety became the buzzword, but now it feels like the gates have swung wide open in the other direction. Users frequently report seeing borderline-scammy AI-generated ads, "get rich quick" schemes, and even NSFW content that somehow bypassed the filters that would get a regular creator demonetized in a heartbeat.
The irony is thick. YouTube demands "clean" content from its creators while serving up "trash" in the ad slots.
The Content is Getting... Weird?
It isn't just the ads. The actual videos have changed. Because the algorithm rewards retention above almost everything else, creators have been forced into a very specific, very loud box.
Have you noticed the "YouTube Face"? The wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock pose on every single thumbnail. Even for videos about depressing topics or technical tutorials. MrBeast, the king of the platform, recently admitted he’s moving away from the "crazy" high-paced editing because even he realized it was getting too much. But the rest of the platform is still catching up to that realization.
The pacing is frantic.
No silence allowed.
Every second must have a jump cut or a sound effect.
This "retention editing" makes it feel like your brain is being fed through a woodchipper. It’s hard to watch something for 20 minutes when it feels like a 1,200-second TikTok. For older viewers or those who just want a calm experience, this is exactly why YouTube has become unwatchable. The platform has optimized for the dopamine hit of a 12-year-old with a 4-second attention span, leaving everyone else behind.
The Rise of "Slop" and AI Channels
Go to the "Trending" tab—if you can even find it anymore—and you’ll see it. Dozens of channels that don't seem to have a human behind them. They use AI voiceovers, stock footage, and scraped scripts to churn out ten videos a day.
- "10 Facts About This Celebrity You Didn't Know"
- "Why [Country] is About to Collapse"
- "The Truth About This 20-Year-Old Movie"
These are "slop" channels. They exist solely to capture search traffic and farm ad revenue. They offer zero original insight. They often contain factual errors. Yet, because they upload so frequently, the algorithm loves them. This dilutes the quality of the "Home" feed, burying the high-effort creators who take a month to produce one beautiful, thoughtful piece of work.
YouTube Premium is a Tough Sell
Google’s solution to all of this is simple: Pay us.
YouTube Premium isn't a bad product in a vacuum. You get no ads, background play on mobile, and YouTube Music. But the price keeps creeping up. In many regions, it’s now more expensive than a Netflix or Disney+ subscription.
The psychological hurdle here is that people remember when YouTube was free and functional. Paying $14 or $18 a month to fix a problem that Google arguably created (by increasing the ad load) feels like a protection racket to many users. "Nice video you got there... would be a shame if someone interrupted it every three minutes."
The Search Function is Broken
Remember when you could search for a video and the results were actually... the videos you searched for?
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Try it now. You get three relevant results. Then a section called "People also watched." Then "Shorts." Then "Previously watched." Then, maybe, a few more relevant videos, but they are buried under "Recommended for you" results that have nothing to do with your search query.
Google is a search company, yet the search on their biggest video platform is intentionally degraded to keep you scrolling through things you didn't ask for. It's a "discovery" engine now, not a utility. If you’re looking for a specific niche tutorial, you often have to scroll past pages of irrelevant "slop" and "Shorts" to find the human being who actually knows how to fix your specific brand of dishwasher.
The "Shorts" Problem
YouTube Shorts was a defensive move against TikTok. It worked, commercially speaking. Shorts get billions of views. But for the long-form community, it’s been a disaster.
The "Shorts shelf" takes up massive real estate on the homepage. Many creators have split their channels or started uploading low-effort vertical clips just to keep the algorithm happy. This has fractured the user experience. You go to a channel’s "Videos" tab and it’s a mess of 15-second clips and 30-minute essays.
It feels cluttered. It feels desperate.
Is There an Alternative?
This is the kicker. Despite why people feel YouTube has become unwatchable, they stay. Why? Because there is nowhere else to go.
Vimeo became a B2B hosting platform for pros.
Nebula is great for "edutainment" but it’s a paid niche.
Rumble is... a specific vibe that doesn't appeal to the masses.
Odysee and PeerTube are too technical for the average person who just wants to see a recipe for lasagna.
YouTube has a monopoly on human knowledge in video form. That’s the "moat." You can’t leave because everything is there. This lack of competition is exactly why Google feels comfortable pushing the boundaries of how many ads they can show before you finally snap.
How to Make YouTube Usable Again
If you’re at your wit's end, you don't have to just accept the decline. You can actually fight back against the "unwatchable" nature of the site with a few specific tweaks.
Use an Extension Like "Enhancer for YouTube"
This allows you to force the player to stay at a certain resolution, remove the "end screen" cards that block the last 20 seconds of a video, and even control playback speed with your mouse wheel. It cleans up the UI significantly.SponsorBlock is Essential
This is a crowdsourced browser extension that automatically skips "sponsor segments" within videos. If a creator spends two minutes talking about a meal kit, the extension will just jump right over it. It makes the experience feel much more like the "old" internet.FreeTube or NewPipe
If you’re on desktop, FreeTube is an open-source client that lets you subscribe to channels without a Google account. It strips away all the tracking, all the ads, and all the "clutter." For Android users, NewPipe (or the various "Revanced" forks) does the same for mobile.Curate Your Subscriptions Like a Garden
The "Home" feed is designed to keep you clicking. The "Subscriptions" feed is what you actually chose. Train yourself to never look at the Home tab. Only go to your Subs. If a creator starts posting "slop" or too many Shorts, unsubscribe immediately.
The Tipping Point
We are in the "Enshittification" phase of YouTube’s lifecycle—a term coined by Cory Doctorow to describe how platforms become progressively worse as they prioritize shareholders over users.
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First, they are good to users.
Then, they are good to creators/advertisers to build the ecosystem.
Finally, they claw back all that value for themselves.
YouTube is firmly in stage three.
The platform isn't going to die tomorrow. It’s too big. But the cultural prestige is evaporating. It’s no longer the "cool" place where the weird and wonderful happens; it’s a utility that we use because we have to, while grumbling the whole time.
If you want to enjoy video content in 2026, you have to be an active participant in your own experience. You can't let the algorithm "lean back" and feed you. You have to use tools, be picky with your subs, and refuse to engage with the clickbait.
The "unwatchable" nature of the site is a design choice. Your choice is whether or not you play along with it.
Practical Next Steps for a Better Feed:
- Audit your subscriptions: Go through your list and remove any channel you haven't watched in six months. This clears the "noise" from your Subscriptions tab.
- Install "Unhook": This browser extension allows you to hide the "Recommended" sidebar, comments, and the homepage feed entirely. It forces you to only watch what you specifically searched for.
- Explore RSS: You can actually subscribe to YouTube channels via an RSS reader. This lets you see new uploads without ever having to visit the YouTube homepage or deal with its UI.
- Check out Nebula or CuriosityStream: If you enjoy high-quality documentaries, these platforms offer a "clean" experience for a relatively low price, often bundled together.
The era of the "free and easy" YouTube is over, but with a bit of effort, you can still find the gems hidden under the mountain of ads and algorithms.