Imagine what youtube would be like, without a view counter or a dislike bar?

Apex
Apex
Sep 3, 2018 · 3 min read

Well i hid them, because they’re a cancer that stopped me from enjoying content to be honest and i don’t want them back.

I’ve hidden the following things from my view on youtube -

  • View counts
  • Upload dates
  • Avatars
  • The “recommended for you” text
  • Dislike bar (i still have the buttons but their invisible, still clickable)
  • Bonus, my youtube is dark mode (so is my medium).

There’s one negative thing about the dislike bar not being there, sometimes videos have misinformation in them, dislike bars actually help point that out/give me a warning that i should check out the comments and see what’s up.

View counter

I don’t care for view counts, i think they personally negatively impact my experience, i can’t put my finger on it, it just feels like, i don’t have to like something because everyone else does or doesn’t. And the only way to get back my ownership of what i truly like is to stop being influenced by the people around me (ie big ass view count).

Upload dates

So i’m big on evergreen content, just because a video is old doesn’t mean i shouldn’t watch it, i’ve mentally had my filter changed to only want to see the newest content, that’s actually stupid.

I only disabled this because i got to a point where i would go to youtube, go to my subscriptions, reload, look for a new video, if there were none, i would leave.

I wouldn’t watch videos that were ‘old’ because of some reason that my brain just never wanted to click on it.

That’s sad, there’s so much interesting things that i’ve never seen before and it’s time to go explore, the upload date is a part of a mental anchor that i needed to get rid off.

Avatars

I can’t describe it, not seeing avatars depersonalised the retarded comments and actually stopped me from wanting to argue with people, i’m more happier to just read now than i was before.

Dislike bar & buttons

Fuck the bar, that needed to go, i’m sick of not liking things based on other people, i like what i like and i rarely dislike videos, i feel without the bar i’ve actually wanted to like videos more. (i can click the buttons, they still exist, they’re just invisible)

The “recommended for you” text

This text just happens to have the same class that i disabled for view counts, so it gets disabled as a by product.

Dark mode is life.


If you’re wondering how i did this, there’s an extension for chrome called user css https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-css/okpjlejfhacmgjkmknjhadmkdbcldfcb

Paste this css into it to get the same effect as me

.yt-lockup-meta-info{
display: none;
}
.watch-view-count{
display: none;
}
#watch8-sentiment-actions{
opacity: 0;
}
.yt-subscription-button-subscriber-count-branded-horizontal{
display: none !important;
}
.watch-time-text{
display:none;
}
.stat.view-count{
display:none;
}
li.sbsb_c.gsfs {
color: black;
}
.yt-thumb-square{
display: none;
}

Someone might find this useful ;) .

Bonus

This is what my medium looks like, my avatar is black, yes, but it gets inverted for me ;)
Apex

Written by

Apex

I’m Apexjnr, i write about Esports psychology with a focus on personal development to make people perform better and be happier.

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