On September 15th, 2020 Youtube released a new feature called Youtube Shorts. This feature is similar to how TikTok and Instram Reels operate. Of the uploaded videos many cover interesting topics, fun facts, and more. Many people also post clips from movies, shows, comic books, etc. With the popularity of shorts, it has changed how many people consume media… for the better!

Shorts allow their viewers to get all you need to know about a piece of media in about 30 seconds. You wanna watch the new show that all of your classmates are talking about? Just watch a few shorts and fake it till ya’ make it. If they ask about something that seems important or interesting and that makes you think that not watching the show has made you miss out on some important information, don’t; if it was really important, the person making the short wouldn’t have included it. However, if the fact that the scene isn’t important does not dissuade your friend from talking about it, then make vague remarks that make it look like you actually watched the show, which you basically have, seeing as you’ve seen 2 minutes and 30 seconds, of the most important scenes in about 5 shorts.

Shorts sometimes aren’t that interesting. It is unfortunate but true that many shorts are plagued by the fact that the source material is filled with unnecessary things like exposition and character moments that aren’t jokes. However, there is still hope for these boring scenes. Many shorts creators have come up with a brilliant technique. This technique has no name but is very effective at mending the damage done to the short creator’s viewer retention. This technique uses supplementary footage to keep the viewer engaged. An example would be while the short is playing the short creator would add footage from Subway Surfers or Family Guy funny moments. This keeps the viewer’s attention by distracting them from the boring content by having them watch more interesting and funny videos.