I subscribe to a lot of youtube channels and stuff and so an watching online videos almost everyday. Here are a few lessons/tips that i’ve picked up:
- Use Time saving tools like
- youtube center: It controls your resolution and screen size ( even supports auto full screen) and prevents more than 1 video playing at a time
- Feedly: I use it to subscribe to channels and playlists and hence keep track of watched and new unwatched stuff
- Speed Contoller: Control playback speed with keyboard keys with this amazing extension
- Don’t watch hour long videos: In fact if anything is bigger than TED videos ie > 20 min, i blindly ignore it, or put it in my youtube watch later list
- Watch with a purpose. This way if in a 5 min video, u don’t see your purpose being met, close it immediately and move on
- Don’t watch the same things again: Most online videos talk about around the latest news/finding, so if you’ve see 1 video about that topic on one channel, you can skip the same topic on other channels, as 90% of the stuff will always be the same across all videos on that topic
- Don’t watch obvious stuff: Most video channels, eg. Science based channels, don’t assume that you have a higher education in science. They just go by the fact that you’re interested in science ( coz you’re watching this video). So they talk about basic stuff, which is almost always obvious to me, being an electronics engineer. Hence I now skip such videos.
- Before you watch any video, do this:
- Read the title
- Recollect all you know about the title in your min for 10 sec
- Note down all your open Qs on the title in your mind
- Play the video and skim over the parts u know, as your purpose of watching is new info and to find answers to the open Qs you have
- If the video doesn’t answer your open Qs, google them immediately