I have a roommate that watches YouTube like that. He was out of work for a long time and basically watched YouTube all day. I saw him finish videos and click on a recommended one.

Naturally he'll say the craziest shit sometimes but most people around us are the same. It really sucks and I can't wait to move out of this living situation.

For that usage pattern, I recommend the Freetube app to block Google from spying.

I only ever go straight to the Subscriptions page. I've got enough good quality channels to keep me entertained for long enough. I'll occasionally check out a new channel form the suggestions on the sidebar, and I've found enough good new ones that way to keep me doing it, but it's not a frequent occurrence. The thing I like about these services is that you can curate whatever experience you like by being sufficiently selective with what you click on, and the more you click on good quality stuff, the more stuff like that it'll show you.

I mean, yeah man that’s literally how 95% of people under 30 watch YouTube.