YouTube Login

[SeanK]

Well, this morning, I can no longer view YouTube as a "guest". No more weather reports or palm videos without using a Google account.  With my phone, I'm signed in. On our ROKU TVs, I usually use guest. Well, no more.

[PAPalmtrees]

On 2/9/2026 at 6:04 AM, SeanK said:

Well, this morning, I can no longer view YouTube as a "guest". No more weather reports or palm videos without using a Google account.  With my phone, I'm signed in. On our ROKU TVs, I usually use guest. Well, no more.

This is on our roku TV there should be a button that says watch as guest and if you click it , you don't have to use your google account

[SeanK]

3 hours ago, PAPalmtrees said:

This is on our roku TV there should be a button that says watch as guest and if you click it , you don't have to use your google account

Yeah, But they're still tracking your phone number. There's no escape.

[PAPalmtrees]

1 hour ago, SeanK said:

Yeah, But they're still tracking your phone number. There's no escape.

What do you mean? It never has asked for my phone number. Does it for you?

[SeanK]

I can open YouTube. I can search.

But every video I try to watch wants me to sign-in. The bar code wants a connection that grabs my IP address.

[PAPalmtrees]

37 minutes ago, SeanK said:

I can open YouTube. I can search.

But every video I try to watch wants me to sign-in. The bar code wants a connection that grabs my IP address.

It says you're a bot are you using a VPN? YouTube Sometimes flags you as a bot when you're using a VPN on their services

[SeanK]

2 hours ago, PAPalmtrees said:

It says you're a bot are you using a VPN? YouTube Sometimes flags you as a bot when you're using a VPN on their services

Nope. We're not that sophisticated here.

[PAPalmtrees]

9 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Nope. We're not that sophisticated here.

Interesting , honestly , i'm not sure what the problem could be.  

[JohnAndSancho]

I really don't like where technology is heading. I mean tbf there are lots of big accounts that pay for bots to boost their viewership for monetization so I get that, but so many apps and websites now require full face scans to verify that you're a human and I'm not gonna go all Randy Quaid here but all of this stuff goes into a database. I've read that they're monitoring social media comments to determine what areas are "problematic" now (I am not going to get political, this is my escape zone from that), I'm just saying I don't like where things are going. I don't like that we're giving AI so much control over everything. I don't think people realize how many jobs it's going to replace. It has its purposes for sure, i mean I've used it in research for plant info and looking up info on grants because it's easier than digging through hundreds of pages of redundant websites and old intermittently working forums. But I don't think it should be involved with health insurance or the military on any level. 

 

But yeah. I mean, to get back on topic, it's all about tracking, (mostly) for advertising. I don't think I'm at the point where I put my phone in a Faraday bag when I'm not using it, but the advertising tracking is insane. I've got a tablet I only really use for streaming to my Chromecast, and I'm terminally online. I'll like a post on Instagram or a tweet and the ads follow me for weeks. I'll ask Sancho if he needs to poop and start getting ads for Charmin (they already know I buy Charmin). I'll say the word insulin out loud and get ads for all the diabetes sensors (they know I'm diabetic). 

 

If I were to say stuff like this 15 or 20 years ago, everyone would think I'm paranoid. Today, it's just like - yep. I get ads for grow lights and Miracle Gro constantly. I'm single so I get ads for AI dating apps all the time. In a month or two I'll get flooded with apps for MLB.tv. 

 

I know I just wrote like a 2 page screed going slightly sideways from where you were going, and this is probably gonna lead to me getting flooded with ads from the online therapists..... But like I dunno what we can do about it. The fact of the matter is, we're the product. Our information and our attention is all up for sale. It's crazy Orwellian. The reality is there's computers watching and reading everything we do and sniffing through our texts and we pay 75 bucks a month for the right to carry these little things in our pockets that listen to what we say and watch where we go and pretty much our only other option is to go Amish. 

 

Edit - I bought some electrolyte drink mix yesterday. I liked a tweet from a friend about making a drink. 

 

I'm almost 2 years sober lol.