I’m of the belief that social media use ravages the attention span and imposes a high passive opportunity cost on your time (consider how often you absentmindedly open your phone to scroll a feed without looking for anything in particular only to suddenly realize 20 minutes has passed with nothing to show for it). While there is a great deal of informative content on YouTube, personally I find the cognitive trade offs of being a YouTube user far too great for it to be a tool of intellectual development. I’m just a random asshole on the internet though, so credit my opinion accordingly.
You don't have to involve yourself with the social-media side of YT at all, though. It is optional. I curate my subscription list and don't browse any discover-type feeds or anything and only see content from channels to which I am subscribed. I block comments sections using a browser extension. I don't watch "shorts". As far as the social media aspect of the site goes, if one ignores the comments and algorithmic content (which isn't always horrible anyway but is certainly optional) you can easily curate a good experience for yourself.
