Your One App

As the ship pulled away from the dock, so did my connection to the mainland. For the next two weeks, I was headed towards the South Pole - the continent that not many had seen and one lacking sufficient WiFi might I add.

It was that latter part that had me concerned. It had been several years since I'd gone cold turkey - no technology - I'm talking Edge service (i.e. less than 2G). Hearken back to the days when dial up was a common occurrence for many Americans (myself included) and how blissfully ignorant we were about high speed internet, the Gig economy and of course, our apps.

I had known this moment was coming ever since we had booked the trip and had tried to make the necessary preparations - download movies and TV shows - check; playlists set - check; watch my favorite videos one more time - check.

But three days in, I felt withdrawal - well, specifically, I missed this one app. We've all been there, right?

Take a moment and think back on your day. What's the app that you were the most excited about opening? Or when you had an extra moment between meetings - what was the one app you opened to watch or read something?

While on my winter vacation, I realized that one app for me was YouTube. Hands down, it's my favorite app and where I spent a majority of my limited free time when I'm not at the gym or sleeping.

How do I know this? Well, YouTube actually tracks the amount of time I spend on their app. For example, this past week - I spent a daily average of 1 hour and 20 minutes on YouTube. That equates to 9.5 hours a week or the number of hours of sleep a night I'd like to get.

Most of you are probably wondering - what exactly am I doing for 9.5 hours a week on that app? Great question. And to answer that, I'll tell you why I love YouTube and how it has slowly dominated my smartphone screen time.

My love affair with YouTube started in 2005 - I stumbled onto the site in search of finding legal ways to watch episodes of TV shows I liked. I'd seen the lawsuits brought against Napster users and I've ventured onto less savory sites where illegal downloading was occurring. I had no interest in wearing an orange jumpsuit.

What started as a place to watch episodes of TV shows slowly expanded over time into my one stop shop for all content related items. Here's my short list of things:

Self-Help

This past Halloween, I had no idea how to make a dress I purchased look "zombie like" - have no fear - YouTube supplied a multitude of ways for me to "taint it." Where I used to spend time "Googling" for answers on "how to do x" - I now visit YouTube for that visual image.

Music

Owning music is so 2015. Everyone streams music now. Besides Pandora or my own iTunes library, a majority of my time is spent watching music videos of my favorite artists (i.e. Taylor Swift, One Republic) or new artists that I recently discovered (i.e. Abir, Lauv, Alec Benjamin) or old favorites (Halsey, Banners, Crywolf, etc.). Finding new, interesting music is one of my favorite pastimes.

For those of you that thought music videos were dead - think again. Instead of playing their videos on MTV, artists commonly release new music on YouTube. A perfect example is Taylor Swift's new single, "ME!" which she published on YouTube and loaded the video with "Easter Eggs" (i.e. an inside reference, joke or hidden message found in a film). The video logged over 65M views in 24 hours - becoming the most watched video from a solo or female artist in history.

If I could, I'd listen to my music on YouTube exclusively instead of Pandora. The problem is the inability to multi-task. This means you can only watch your designated video on YouTube - if you want to answer a text message, it stops playing the video. There is a way around this - you can pay YouTube and the video will play in the background. I opt for free which is why I mix in the free version of Pandora music.

Movie Trailers

Besides the cinema, YouTube is the best place to find movie trailers - new and old. Enough said there. Even though Fandango offers trailers there - I prefer YouTube which compiles all previous trailers AND pre-released clips from films.

Movies & TV Episodes

And speaking of movies - YouTube has an expansive library of licensed content for rent AND purchase (commonly known in the industry as TVOD or transactional video on demand). Missed an episode of The Flash on the CW? Don't fret - YouTube will sell it to you for $1.99 per episode. Often, YouTube will have these episodes before its competitors - like Netflix.

Note - To be clear, I do not consider YouTube a TV replacement. I still subscribe to other streaming and cable services even though YouTube heavily promotes YouTube TV to me every time I am on the app.

Fan/Spoiler/News/Theories

Did the ending of Avengers: Infinity War leave you speechless and in search of more answers like me? Well, I'm not the only one. Similar to Reddit (a social website/forum where members share opinions about products, content, etc. with a voting option), YouTube boosts an expansive community that posts videos pontificating on what may happen next to my favorite characters like Iron Man and Captain America or point out Easter Eggs from previous films.

For those of you that saw Avengers: Endgame, I recently watched a YouTube video that spanned over 25 minutes pointing out said Easter Eggs. I'm including the link but BEWARE, do NOT click if you do not want to be spoiled. That may sound like an eternity for some but for an avid fan like me - I found it incredibly rewarding to connect the dots across 22 films.

This community exists beyond Marvel movies - there are similar communities dedicated to analyzing every Game of Thrones or Suits episode, political opinions, etc. Previously, I read articles in other blogs and forums (and still do from time to time) but YouTube does the best in aggregating all related search articles.

As you can see, YouTube has gradually helped me consolidate the number of apps, websites, forums or blogs that I used to visit for my content needs.

I tend to think of YouTube like the Louvre - it's a vast collection of content that you could spend hours upon hours watching and never reach the end. In fact, in January 2019, it was reported that over 300 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute!

Before I conclude this article, I do want to be clear that YouTube is not without its drawbacks. For the past few weeks, I've covered the issues plaguing live streaming apps like TikTok and Facebook Live. Similar concerns bombard YouTube, it's embroiled in a ferocious and possibly unwinnable fight.

Why unwinnable? Well, YouTube is fighting a war on all fronts -

Influencers

It's combating its influencers (people who publish videos on YouTube and make money off it) who may post offensive videos to drive up views. Again, think back to Logan Paul who I referenced several weeks ago.

Fake News

Just like Facebook, there's a lot of misinformation published by special interest groups (i.e. accusations that the Apollo moon landing was faked).

Advertisers

The group that powers YouTube and keeps the site from charging a subscription fee. Many advertisers expressed anger over the placement of their brand (P&G has been one of the most outspoken critics).

Users

The people like me who use the service on the daily. User concerns vary - some are upset about the search algorithm, others are upset about the videos that pop up that can be violent or sinister in nature (i.e. I touched several weeks ago on the Momo Challenge), some are upset about the comments people leave, etc.

To properly gauge the scale of these issues, I'd recommend reading this excellent article by The New York Times on YouTube's challenges and what their CEO, Susan Wojcicki is facing.

The struggle and challenge is real - YouTube has a lot to love and a lot to be concerned about. But I'm not planning on changing my habits anytime soon. There has not been another app that provides the same level of entertainment, precision in search or convenience as YouTube which means I'll take the good and click through the bad.

Alright, that's enough on my favorite app. Tell me your favorite app in the comments below!