this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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Think about it, Google Maps is (I think) the biggest collection of map data and information on locations everywhere around the world, yet I don't want an advertising company knowing that I just went to a fast food place.

YouTube is an endless trove of video content that anyone can contribute to, yet I'd much rather not give an advertiser information on every little interest that I have in video.

It's so bad for you, but it's so good.

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[–] 001100010010@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 1 year ago (5 children)

My youtube front page just shows random foxnews, joe rogan, andrew tate, prager u, copaganda, hunter biden's laptop, china, tiktokers, all bunch of things I have no interest in. There are no republicans or nationalists in my household. Don't know why these shit keep showing up.

[–] dojan@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My roomie keeps getting videos and adverts about visiting Dubai/UAE/Qatar etc.

We're both LGBTQ+ so that wouldn't end well.

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] dojan@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

My guess is that it’s because the area we live in has a decently sized immigrant population, usually Middle East/North African.

Those countries are probably a lot more appealing to them than they are to us, but the algorithm lumps us all in in the same demographic.

[–] slyme@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yikes... I hope you find your way out of that hole, maybe starting over may help? I know seperate channels on the same account have different recommended pages, so that might work.

[–] 001100010010@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I am not even logged in. I clear my entire browser every day and youtube still tries to shove propaganda. I use Firefox + uBlock Origin on Android. Seems like if you dont use an account, they just show what the average person watches, which is apparantly right wing shit.

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 3 points 1 year ago

Ouch. On desktop I use YouTube in a logged out container tab - after watching a LTT and TLE video my feed usually falls in line.

There is occasionally some disturbing stuff on the homepage which is a little offputting. Funny thing is, in NewPipe on my phone I see no such content!

[–] FunnyUsername@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

This is disconcerting to say the least 😑

[–] Bongles@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

It just shows up because it's popular and they don't reasonably know what you like.

[–] FunnyUsername@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's a nightmare. You could try starting clean and going to your Google account settings and completely wiping your view history. You might be able to do it from the YouTube site, but I'm not sure. Hopefully that'll help a little? Edit: just saw you weren't even logged in! In that case....no idea. Best of luck 🤞✊