I understand the basic arguments—YouTube’s rise in short-form content, faster dopamine hits, and lower expectations placed on creators. But even if we set short-form content aside, the contradiction still stands. You’ll find people calling the new Avatar movie boring, even if they pirated it and watched it for free, while those same people will happily spend hours watching livestreams where someone reacts to content or talks about nothing in particular, day after day, for an entire year. How can Avatar be dismissed as boring, yet that kind of content is considered engaging? I would understand if it was a Wikipedia like scenario were all those hours of User generated content just lead to better quality content being produced by process of selection but that isn't really the case with youtube.