You know that feeling when you are watching a YouTube video and you find yourself wasting time without getting to the point of the video?

Like, those people who just ramble on and on, until you are about 5 minutes in?

And worse, when you finally decide to click on different video, the video starts to load and then…

BOOM – another boring ad for how you can spend money on something that you wouldn’t ever need.

You are now counting down the seconds to skip the ad.

 4…  3…  2…  1…

At last, I can get back to my fried mac ‘n’ cheese recipe video.

Quite often, we end up wasting time on the internet because the information we want can be hidden behind irrelevant content, ads, and other online annoyances.

Alas, these problems can be solved with a few simple tricks! 

 

Trick #1: YouTube Playback Speed

Many online video players, especially Youtube, have a feature that some viewers may be unaware of, or seldom utilize – the playback speed setting.  

The implications are fairly self-explanatory, but simply put, you can cut down on the amount of time you spend on a video by watching it faster (by as much as 2x)!  This can be great for speeding through those top 10 lists, life hack videos, or news interviews that you want to digest.

Here’s how:

For Laptop or Desktop Version

Click on the Settings Icon 

Click on the Adjust Speed option 

For Mobile/Tablet (Youtube App Only)

Tap the 3 dots in the upper right corner

Repeat the same next steps from above

The most important thing to note is the learning curve for viewing at faster speeds.  At the time of this writing, Youtube supports playback speeds of 1.25x, 1.5x, and 2x. Most friends I’ve shared this trick with found that they weren’t able to fully comprehend everything when a video was played at 2x. However, this speed can be quite entertaining to listen to music at a faster pace, you know, because genres like trance and metal aren’t fast enough already, haha!

Lastly, there are many video players outside of Youtube where this trick doesn’t work without additional tampering or special software.  Many news sites for instance, do not offer playback speed settings.

But there is still hope. A program called MySpeed can be installed on a computer and will add a playback speed widget to nearly any video online anywhere!  Check out their website.

Now you can binge-watch double the content than before!

 

Trick #2: Ad Blocker

At work, I tend to use YouTube to listen to whatever music I am craving. I usually go with something that doesn’t have lyrics so I don’t get distracted from the task at hand. The only problem is that ads will interrupt my playlist and more importantly, my train of thought. The ads weren’t very long, but it would become a headache knowing these would be wasting time that was valuable to me.

To resolve this dilemma, I downloaded ‘Adblocker Ultimate’ on my internet browser. Now, when I surf the web, I don’t see those intrusive banners and I can listen to my music without skipping a beat.

Not only does this save me time, but it also saves me stress.

I simply go about my day and the ads get annihilated by my protector, Ad Blocker Ultimate. It also keeps track of the amount of ads blocked. As of right now, the count is at 19,951 ads diverted!

 

To download, follow these steps:

  1. Use the Google Chrome browser
  2. Download the ad blocker plugin
  3. Enjoy your ad-free internet life  :)

 

 

 

But what about ads for a cell phone?

There are plenty of ad blocking apps that can do the same thing. I have been experimenting with a few different apps and they seem to be pretty similar. As of yet, I haven’t found an ad blocker that will completely remove ads from my YouTube app within my phone, but if I am surfing YouTube from my web browser, it will block everything.

 

Trick #3: Password Manager

Don’t you just love having to reset your password because you can’t remember it? 

There’s no need to relive that tedious process over and over.

I humbly welcome you to the world of Password managers!  

I think most of us can agree that we can remember just one password, even if it is really complicated. With a great blend of security features and some clever automation, most Password Manager programs are able to handle logging you into all of your accounts.  

Here are a couple popular password management applications:

 

 

 

 

 

 

To download these apps, simply click here for the Keeper manager and here for the LastPass manager.

No more guessing sessions.  No more reset emails. 

No more messages about how “your new password cannot be the same as your old one,” leaving you dumbfounded (seriously, how does that even happen?). But most importantly, have peace of mind knowing that you can stay organized without wasting time on the internet.

Ready – Set – Automate!

Let’s start today:

  1. Go to YouTube and have fun testing out the playback speed setting
  2. Download the Adblocker and say goodbye to the annoying interruptions
  3. Download one of the password managers so you never have to remember your password again
  4. Enjoy surfing the web without wasting time

 

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