YouTube: More than just cat videos

I'm one of those old guys that has a hard time letting go of how things used to be.

That's not to say I wish things were like they used to be. Well, okay, in some cases, I do wish something things were that way. But not everything. That's another way of saying that not all change is good change.

What I'm talking about is that I see or experience something -- or someone -- and base my thoughts about it -- or them -- on that impression. I'm not talking about a quick first impression. I'm talking about experiences that go on for a while. I do something, experience something, interact with someone, multiple times over a long period of time. And over that time, I develop an impression. That impression changes and refines, but eventually solidifies. That then I have my final opinion on something.

That's not always the right thing, though. That's not to say my "final opinion" is wrong. At the time, it could very well have been correct. And, as arrogant as this sounds, it probably was.

The problem is that things and people change. Not always drastically, but in small ways. And, over time, these small changes can add up to big changes. And those changes, given enough of them, can cause a "final opinion" to become outdated.

That's me and YouTube.

I've always liked YouTube. However, there was a time that the cliche about it being a bunch of cat videos was true. And that was a way that I described YouTube. That's not to say I thought it was nothing but cat videos. It's a shorthand way of saying it's content that isn't serious content. Fun, but not really a serious source of anything of consequence.

That was true. Well, okay, it was mostly true. YouTube has always had good content that was more than cat videos. Come to think of it, I'm not sure the last time I saw a cat video on YouTube. And I certainly don't know the last time I saw a new cat video. If I search for cat videos, most of the results are videos I've seen before. Maybe uploaded by someone other than the original, but the content itself is old. Mostly.

The reality is that I've watched a lot of YouTube over the years, and I've never really let go of the idea that it was a bunch of cat videos. But the reality is that it's so much more than that.

Let me say now that this is not a new opinion of mine. I concluded that there was a lot more to YouTube some time back. But I did have the "cat videos" thought for a long time.

Recently, I sat down and reviewed by videos on my Roku device and was wondering if I needed to rearrange the order. If I'm always scrolling down for one particular app, maybe I should move that app to the top, or closer to the top. Most used first, least used last.

I review my app lineup, to include the order, every so often. And the first app is, and for some time has been, YouTube. And the last time I did an app menu review, I thought about how I used to think it was just a bunch of cat videos. And that led to my whole thinking about how it, like so many other things, gets judged, and left with a judgement that could be outdated.

My Streaming Life has included a lot of YouTube content over the years. And YouTube is my most used app. I'm never gonna give it up.