All mass media will inevitably produce things that are garbage. Video has been the dominant form of media since it became widespread in the 50s.

Marshal McLuhan was the first to clue in to the effects of media types, with his famous quote "The medium is the message". He wrote extensively about media. A book that you are likely to identify strongly with is "Amusing Ourselves to Death". It basically argues that we are becoming a trivial culture because of our dependence on visual media.

It can easily seem like you get dumber the more videos you watch, but I suspect that's because it's far more common to have Facebook autoplay some retarded video of a fluffy animal your 'friend' shared than it is for someone to write out a thoughtful essay or email to you.

I disagree. I watch some highly informative videos, it depends on the subject matter. What videos are you watching? I watch a lot of tech talks (mostly listen to them while working) and I get value out of them. I live such a busy lifestyle and work on a computer where I can't read books, but I can bring up a Youtube video in a small section of my screen or listen to something.

Education is only a progressive discovery of our ignorance - Will Durant