Using YouTube is basically unavoidable, it's the go-to platform for all your music listening and funny video watching needs. YouTube has been the place where people have grown into themselves as comedians and entertainers, and there just isn't another place like it.

However, I've come to notice, over the last year or so, that the content from some of my favorite creators has began to decline in quality and, frankly, I've been noticing some of the flaws that are cracking the foundation that YouTube is built on.

I believe if things don't change, if we don't stand for that change then this place that has become so great will crumble into virtual dust. But, how has YouTube changed?

1. Reaction Channels

I'm not necessarily talking about the Fine Brothers here, though they've encountered their own issues this past year, there is reasonably still something that can be gained by watching their videos. I'm talking about channels like Jinx (if you don't know who I'm talking about consider yourself lucky) who has 1.6 million subscribers for essentially sitting and staring at a video in the corner of his screen. Usually, he's just slightly smirking (I would be too if I was making money by stealing other people's videos) and not adding any kind of transformative comments that would add to the overall value of the video. This is a problem because it takes away views from the content creators who actually made the video.

2. YouTube Copyright System

We obviously couldn't talk about reaction channels without mentioning the fact that the YouTube copyright system is totally whacked. How a channel like Jinx could garner 1.6 million views by stealing other creators content and not suffer the consequence of having his channel banned is beyond me. Reaction channels have this tendency to have an uninterrupted video in the corner of their videos. That's plagiarism; YouTube should be doing something about it so creators aren't getting views and money stolen from them.

3. Challenge Videos

OK, the Ice Bucket Challenge was worthy of participation, it was a good cause and raised a lot of money for something important. You know what's not as worthy? Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge or the Fire Challenge (it exists, you light yourself on fire)--these ones are dangerous and shouldn't be done. Does anyone else remember that one challenge where you sang a song as you tried not to stab your hand with a knife? Worth the views though, right? The challenges only become more inane from there, usually something with the word "GALAXY" pasted at the front.

3. "Collab" Videos

Remember when a collab meant there were two YouTubers making a video together in front of the camera and joking around. Usually they were a guest on someones channel, maybe they were in town and decided to collab. I've literally seen videos where it's just someone linking us to a video by their friends (because they link multiple people) that has nothing to do with the video I was already watching. I know collaboration is working together on something, but these newer videos just seems more like random promos than anything else.

4. YouTube Drama

I thought it was enough seeing celebrities getting into twitter beefs over the internet. It's now extended itself to YouTube enough that there are actually channels dedicated to the coverage of random drama between two creators. Recently, two channels faked a fight and video taped it for views, so now we have asinine tweets turning into fake fighting. Really? But when channels like Drama Alert are out there, then you're going to have people out there trying to gain subscribers by starting problems. People like nothing more than to see conflict!

5. Click Bait

I just don't understand why click bait titles are still a thing. When you have titles like "CHUBBY BUNNY CHALLENGE... GONE SEXUAL" in all caps, I tend to know that it's just click bait. YouTubers usually refrain from putting their titles in all caps when they're actually being serious about something. I don't really see the need to keep the click bait-y titles.

6. Quantity over Quality

Personally, I don't mind waiting a week or two for a decent video from a channel. There are a lot of creators who pump out videos every day or every other day just to maximize views. This is where you start getting into weird challenge videos and videos where you watch someone trying new foods. I didn't start watching these channels so I could see that kind of (quite frankly, talentless) content, but I've slowly watched as the quality of their videos declined and it's depressing. I get that people and channels change, but this is honestly a change for the worst.

So what do we do to stop these kinds of videos from becoming the most prominent type of content on YouTube? Don't watch them and don't support it; there are other channels rising from the ashes to create new and different content that don't fall into these categories. Go support them and show people that we want YouTube to be great again.