Earlier this semester, I tried to give up YouTube to see what it would be like and try to focus more on homework. Here’s what I learned:

It Was Harder Than I Thought

I lasted about a week before going back to normal, and have continued to struggle staying off of YouTube. Admittedly, I think I’ve watched less overall than usual because of my goal, but the number of videos hasn’t been significantly less. I’ve learned that I usually go to YouTube to have a bit of down time, and to relax. Because I didn’t have a good alternative, I think I struggled a lot more than I would have if I had had things ready to do when I had a bit of down time.

Productivity Went Up

Doing assignments early and on time is something I’ve struggled with chronically during college, but every semester I’ve gotten better at being diligent. When I emphasized watching less YouTube, I would start assignments early and because I started them early, I would end up being on track for finishing those assignments early.

Now, I’m not saying that being online less inherently makes you more productive, because that’s definitely not always the case. However, when I’m avoiding homework I’ll typically mull around my email and watch YouTube instead of working on homework. And when you don’t have YouTube, email is only interesting for so long.

Differentiating Work and Rest

Being more conscious of when I watch YouTube definitely helped me watch less of it. Because I typically watch videos for fun and to relax, I started only watching YouTube after dinner with my husband or occasionally during my lunch break. I also implemented studying hours for times when I had a lot of free time so I wouldn’t see it as “free time” and then watch videos and end up wasting all of my potential homework time.

Finally, I Need Rest

One reason I wasn’t able to give up YouTube entirely was because I genuinely enjoy learning from watching videos from creators I like, and it’s a great way to spend a few minutes of resting time. I definitely won’t ever be giving up YouTube entirely, but instead trying to change other things in my life to live a more restful and fulfilling life.

One important part of rest is having a Sabbath, and I’ve been thrilled this semester about being able to do all of my homework six days a week, and usually taking either Saturday or Sunday as a day of rest. There was also a surprising pattern of rest I discovered during the semester, because even though I usually didn’t do any homework on Sundays, I would also be tired and often not accomplish much on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Granted, I’m writing this on a Tuesday, so that’s not entirely true, but it was an interesting pattern I noticed.

Conclusion

Overall, attempting to give up YouTube was an interesting endeavor and taught me a lot about myself and how I handle rest and minor addiction. During this period of Lent, a time for fasting and enduring temptation, I am reminded that it is not that important that I wasn’t successful with my YouTube fast. Indeed, it only shows me that my flaws cannot be fixed on my own strength, but only with the Lord’s grace.