FOSS stuff like lemmy and mastodon will never get past the first step, which is fine. they will just occupy a separate niche.

I wouldn’t say never, but fedverse projects will need to find ways to smooth off the rough edges. Also the more enshittifcation happens the more I think people will be willing and able to get past the rough edges. If any one of the services breaks through and becomes mainstream, it’ll provide a roadmap to success for other services and people will be more comfortable with the concepts.

1 - I’m not going to YouTube shorts to be educated, but if Hank Green shows up and drops a fact on me that’ll entertain me for 30 seconds, I’m good. It’s not doomscrooling which was your original point.

2 - Well yeah that’s a bad idea on most content websites, just because the lowest common denominator content is bad doesn’t mean it’s bad once you curate what you want to watch.

I watch YouTube shorts sometimes, the algorithm gives me mostly comedy, usually some type of shketch where one person plays all the characters. I’ve also seen quick tip or educational videos, outdoor clips. None of what I engage with is doomscroling.