Breaking My Morning YouTube Addiction: Switching to Deep, Single-Topic Learning

It’s summertime in Philadelphia, the World Cup just kicked off (yes, there is some snark there), the town is prepping for the 250th anniversary of America, the Sixers and Flyers had favorable playoff runs, the Phillies got back on track and are expected to be a strong Wild Card contender. Let’s say that the town is busy and, being myself with a range of eclectic interests worthy of Apollo himself, all of this can be very stimulating, even distracting. But I choose to live here for the collisions, the exploring, and the breath of life breathed into my lungs that I know I can’t get anywhere else.

Existing on the internet and putting as much of myself out there as I do, many of you in the AKAPAD Army once — at times still — believe I run a marketing and design company. What you see from me — akapad.com, the livestreams, the art, the Film Buff Podcast, these articles, my appearances — knowing I am a 24/7 Information Technology workaholic (because I love it), leads you to believe in your heart of hearts that all this is possible because I have a team behind me. This is an impossible belief. I do not have the time to hire and train individuals. The day job tried to supply me with interns, which I happily denounce every time I have a conversation with them.

The reality of all of this is that I create systems for production, publishing, creating inventory, research, and practice with the goal of being able to produce intent through the lens of efficiency and speed. Even now this system is so well refined I can play with the frequency of my releases. If you think this is easy, as sadistic as it sounds, I’d pay you to try it.

Throughout 2026 I’ve been struggling in my mornings to get to work and get moving with as much clarity and motivation as possible. This doesn’t mean I don’t have productive mornings, but they can be more productive. Some of what we are about to go over stems from my observation of what we are fighting against: the call to get fed something fast, the practice of absorbing information that in fact shortens our attention span, and the lies that addiction tells us. You are led to believe that fast information is more information and that this is a good thing. What happens here is a rewiring of the brain to where you seek this level and type of stimulation. It’s involuntary. This is why you reach for your phone.

To detach myself from this programming I’ve isolated that it needs to start in the morning. A morning practice I’ve succumbed to in the last few years — getting to where I’ve got to be — I had to admit I’ve been had, tricked, hoodwinked, programmed to allow myself to be programmed by my own free will. This is scary stuff and I must break free of it.

This past week I’ve implemented the routine of keeping the phone in the morning. I’m sorry, it’s a communication tool I need to monitor, and at times it wakes me up. At times I’m told that the world is burning and I must respond. I don’t have a system to remove my phone from acting as a Bat-Signal of sorts. But what comes after I wake up is the larger problem — again, something I programmed myself to accept.

After waking up, in the bathroom I take my morning pills, engage in my skin care routine, shower, and try to save my remaining hair (yes, I have a routine for that as well). Some mornings I’ll work out right after this, some I don’t. But when I don’t, I would compulsively put on YouTube (the cord was cut long ago) and get spoon-fed everything from politics, geek news, sports, and so on. Trust me, it’s mostly useless knowledge. From time to time I would absorb new topics that I may have steamed up as an interest. A good example of this would be that I watched and/or listened to every interview of Clive Barker, which acted as a backdoor inspiration to read more of his material. I’ve had similar runs while reading Stephen King, for example. But I would find myself getting to the couch with a hot cup of coffee to sit in front of YouTube as the sun started to rise.

Sniffing this out as a total waste of time, I convinced myself that if I did this but put myself at the drawing table it would be better. That way I would be drawing or recording while going through my infinite YouTube feed. This would be a win-win for myself: be productive while absorbing all the news the cells of my body could handle. And for a bit this did work. I would get to the drawing table as quick as I could to go through my YouTube feed. But I realized how I had deceived myself into thinking this information was worthwhile, that it was something I could walk away with and apply to my day. While some YouTube content does this (like my own), there is not enough — not for every day consumption. And certainly not while I’m working.

The solution, something random that occurred out of curiosity and the willingness to learn, venturing into the unknown, was Edgar Allan Poe. Poe created his best and most well-known pieces here in Philadelphia, but I would not speak on him and of him. This is a common trigger for me when it comes to subjects and deep dives. This had to change and it could start immediately. During one morning I put on an Edgar Allan Poe documentary that populated on my Amazon Prime, and later carried this to my production room via Amazon Fire tablet where I have a tablet arm that hangs over my drawing table. I found out I was able to absorb more, retain more, and have a topic fill me more while I banged out some of my early morning illustration cobwebs that fill my grey matter from a night of rest.

Many topics in a short amount of time became a slow roll, single topic, equal to that of molasses drip.

This does not mean I’m forever ruling out YouTube as part of my morning routine. I can find long-form content on it easily — it’s as plentiful as the cursed short-form devil’s work. But I know it’s best to get away from it and get better with narrowing my learning to single topics. The pursuit of this will be practiced through the following, all of which I am already subscribed to.

Everything has to start, and often when changing what you are programmed to do — hell, I’m willing to say this is victim programming, that’s right, I’m a victim — I was unwillingly programmed by these sneaky algorithm buttheads. With that, this is what I’m targeting for my withdrawal.

https://akapad.com/talk/documentaries/Documentaries: This is where AKAPAD The Film Buff comes into play. In 2025 I decided to dedicate Saturday nights and Sunday nights as Documentary drops. The intent here was to mostly focus on filmmaking documentaries and ones driven around the creative community with topics that range from graphic design and interior design to even architecture. Putting on a random documentary will service me far better than the endless YouTube rage-bait news drip.

The Great Courses: This is a channel I discovered on my Amazon Fire TV. For about an $8.00 monthly subscription you have access to 20-hour courses on a big enough variety of topics that it’s worth talking about and promoting (as I’m doing here). I will admit that my discipline on utilizing this subscription has lacked the past calendar year. I’m happy to use this opportunity to get it back on track.

PBS Documentaries: Also available through Amazon Fire TV as a channel subscription, this is beyond worth it for the Ken Burns documentaries alone. The Roosevelts being my constant addiction, there’s his Jazz documentary series, Baseball, WW2, Vietnam, and probably his best work, The Civil War documentary series. With this subscription I open myself up to a wider range of topics.

Audio Books: Again thanks to Amazon I have access to what seems to be an endless library of audiobooks and topics. I’m already disciplined on listening to books (mostly non-fiction) during my walks around Philadelphia during my work day and even while working out, but I can be more mindful when hitting the drawing table and putting something on, and/or as soon as I wake up.

I believe another factor in establishing my YouTube brain-suck withdrawal is this very article. I already feel more motivated and directed through the process of drafting this, and I can honestly say I look forward to the challenge.

PETER A DELUCA AKAPD

AKAPAD is a versatile thinker known across Philadelphia, Europe, and even in the vast Multiverse as The Electic One. By day, he excels as an IT Mastermind, assisting individuals, both big and small, with a wide range of simple and complex solutions. In contrast, he is also a talented illustrator, a passionate comic book enthusiast, a creative content creator, and an active live streamer. Additionally, his podcast, “AKAPAD The Film Buff Podcast,” boasts an impressive catalog of over 500 episodes available on nearly every major platform.