If you have a backlog of long technology-related YouTube videos, know that you have some options to help you catch up.
While I’m typically good at keeping up with things like emails, I tend to get bogged down with SQL and database-related YouTube videos. I’ll see a video linked in a blog post or an interesting looking presentation in my subscriptions and click the “Watch Later” button.
If it’s short, I’ll watch it and move on. But many videos are 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or full hour presentations. I’m not complaining about the abundance of free content. That’s great. But I struggle to find the time to stay caught up. That’s why I’ve recently experimented with video AI summarizers like NoteGPT and NotebookLM to zero in on what I’m likely to find valuable.
Not Enough Hours in the Day
Before setting aside time to watch a presentation, getting the summary points can help you decide if it’s something to devote time to or if it’s something you feel like you can skip. Does it sound like something you can use in your current job? Probably worth watching. Is it something you’re interested in that might lead you down a path to learn more? Also, probably worth watching. Is it something that caught your eye one time weeks ago but now doesn’t even look as interesting? Try the summary and go from there.
An AI video summarizer isn’t something to be used all the time. Odds are the summary won’t include key points that you may have found interesting or helpful, especially for longer videos that have more condensed summaries. Don’t assume you can read a summary and have all of the information you would take from watching the full video.
New Options Popping Up
This post was originally based around NoteGPT, as that’s what I’d had the most experience with. This week, I’ve experimented more with NotebookLM. It includes features like generating study guides, FAQs, and even podcasts. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with your “Watch Later” list, give both of these options a shot and see what you think.
Thanks for reading!
Chad Callihan 