"Is YouTube SEO, tags, and hashtags actually necessary, or is it just a myth people tell themselves to feel productive? I really want to know how important it actually is for a new YouTuber, and what the correct way to do it is—because there are so many contradictory videos on YouTube that it's just confusing." In a longs form video
I made these thumbnails myself. I did use AI for some inspiration and ideas, but I actually designed and put them together myself using Canva and other tools.
I'd really appreciate an honest review, especially from people who understand the dark psychology / psychology niche.
What would you change to make the thumbnail more clickable and improve CTR?
I'm completely open to criticism. If something looks bad, generic, confusing, or just doesn't work, please tell me. I genuinely want to learn from it.
I won't take it personally. I'll listen, understand what I'm doing wrong, and try to make the next one better.
So please be brutally honest. What would you change?
How can I improve my CTR and average view duration on YouTube and make my videos more hook-driven?
I run an AI-assisted faceless channel, but I really don't want it to become one of those cheap AI-slop channels where everyone just copies the same formula because some so-called YouTube guru told them to.
I'm genuinely trying to learn and improve. I want to actually grow on YouTube, not just keep uploading and hoping something works.
One thing I'm struggling with is making my content feel more unique.
A Reddit user recently told me that I need to add something of my own instead of just making another dark psychology video. I agree with them, but I'm honestly not sure what that "something unique" should be.
For example, my next video is about "Why Kind People Betray First."
How could I approach a topic like that differently?
Would adding real interviews, clips from psychologists, researchers, or interesting real-life cases make the video more unique? Or is there another format or storytelling approach that could make the channel feel like it actually has its own identity?
I'm also trying to improve my CTR, hooks, retention, titles, and thumbnails without relying on clickbait.
If anyone has experience growing a faceless channel or working in psychology/human-behavior content, I'd genuinely appreciate some advice.
And if you're willing to take a look at the channel and give honest criticism—especially on what feels generic, what could be improved, and what could become my "thing"—I'd really appreciate it.
I'm not looking for generic "just be consistent" advice. I'm actually trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong and learn from it.
I’ve tried really hard to grow my channel organically, but I still haven’t seen much response.
I’m in the dark psychology niche. I use AI for the voiceover and occasionally for research, but all the editing, scripting, and creative work is done by me. I haven’t used AI to write my scripts or edit my videos.
At the same time, I’ve learned a lot during these two months—how to structure and post videos, what dark psychology actually is, why and when certain psychological patterns happen, their benefits and risks, etc.
But it’s been 2 months, 8 videos, and I’m still at only 42 subscribers. I honestly don’t know what I’m doing wrong or what I should change.
I really want someone experienced to look at my channel and give me honest advice. Is there anyone here who has expertise in YouTube growth/content strategy and would be willing to take a look?
Not clickbait, genuinely curious what people here think.
I went down a psychology rabbit hole recently and can't stop thinking about this: not all of Gen Z, but a big chunk of them, seem to have lost the habit of actually questioning something before believing it. Almost like there's a small window where you're supposed to pause and check a claim — and for a lot of people, that window just never opens anymore.
Compare that to Millennials. Most of the ones I know won't trust a single clip or headline until they've actually verified it. I think it's because they lived through the shift themselves — no internet, then slow internet, then social media hitting all at once — so they've literally watched information go from slow and effortful to instant and unquestioned. That contrast seems to have made verification a habit for them, not an afterthought.
Made a short video breaking down the actual psychology behind this, using a real historical case, not just opinion. Full disclosure — it uses AI voiceover and some AI help on the script, but the research and structure behind it are real, not a lazy 2-minute upload.
So — what do you think? Is Gen Z actually "dumber," or is something else going on? And if the pattern's real, what's the actual fix?
Video here if you want the full breakdown: https://youtu.be/554WBio7Dxg?si=l-DY-BetzJ6vIYnz
​
Lately I've been thinking about something that's been messing with my head.
If my parents, my closest friend, and someone I work with all sat in the same room and described me, I honestly don't think they'd be talking about the same person.
Around some people I'm loud. Around others I'm quiet. Sometimes I'm confident, and sometimes I overthink every word I say. It made me wonder if that's just normal... or if I've gotten so used to adapting that I don't really know who I am without anyone around.
I ended up making a video exploring this idea because I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's less about "finding yourself" and more about how we slowly build different versions of ourselves without even noticing.
If anyone's interested, here's the video:
https://youtu.be/ElWfmu-OH3Q?si=7tyGvFbNfslAxGk-
I'd honestly be more interested in hearing your thoughts than getting views.
Do you think everyone has multiple versions of themselves, or should there be one "real" personality no matter who's in the room?
It always starts the same way. Someone becomes so certain they're right that they stop looking for the one piece of evidence that could prove them wrong. Confidence and delusion feel identical from the inside — same certainty, same tunnel vision. The only real difference is whether the belief updates when reality pushes back, or refuses to.
Napoleon is probably the clearest historical case. He crowned himself at his own coronation, took the crown out of the Pope's hands. Years later he marched 600,000 men into Russia while everyone around him was screaming warnings he'd already stopped being able to hear. Died on a rock in the middle of the ocean, cut off from the empire he built.
Made a short breakdown on this — where confidence quietly turns into delusion, using Napoleon as the case study.
https://youtu.be/uJ\\\_nNY2aih4
Genuine question: do you think it's possible to catch yourself doing this in real time, or does it only become visible in hindsight?
For years I wore "confident" like it was a personality trait I'd earned. I didn't second-guess myself, I didn't ask for reassurance, I made decisions fast and stuck with them no matter what anyone said. People used to tell me they admired that about me. I used to be proud of it.
It took losing something that mattered to me to realize what I'd actually been doing wasn't confidence. It was just refusing to update. Real confidence, I think, is supposed to bend when reality pushes back against it. What I had didn't bend. It just got louder every time someone questioned it, until I wasn't confident anymore, I was just unreachable.
I still don't fully know how to tell the difference in the moment. I can see it clearly now looking backward, but I have no idea if I'd catch myself doing it again while it was actually happening. That's the part that scares me most.
Put together a short video trying to work through where that line actually sits, more for my own head than anything else.
For people here who've actually built real confidence — how do you personally tell it apart from just being stubborn and calling it confidence?
I always thought delusion would feel like something. Like I'd know. Turns out it feels exactly like being right. That's the part nobody warns you about.
Went down a rabbit hole on this after a rough few weeks and ended up making a short video, not really for views, just needed to get it out of my head.
Anyone else had a moment where you realized, after the fact, that certainty and delusion felt like the exact same thing while it was happening? Still sitting with it
It always starts the same way. Someone becomes so certain they're right that they stop looking for the one piece of evidence that could prove them wrong. Confidence and delusion feel identical from the inside — same certainty, same tunnel vision. The only real difference is whether the belief updates when reality pushes back, or refuses to.
Napoleon is probably the clearest historical case. He crowned himself at his own coronation, took the crown out of the Pope's hands. Years later he marched 600,000 men into Russia while everyone around him was screaming warnings he'd already stopped being able to hear. Died on a rock in the middle of the ocean, cut off from the empire he built.
Made a short breakdown on this — where confidence quietly turns into delusion, using Napoleon as the case study.
Genuine question: do you think it's possible to catch yourself doing this in real time, or does it only become visible in hindsight?
It always starts the same way. Someone becomes so certain they're right that they stop looking for the one piece of evidence that could prove them wrong. Confidence and delusion feel identical from the inside — same certainty, same tunnel vision. The only real difference is whether the belief updates when reality pushes back, or refuses to.
Napoleon is probably the clearest historical case. He crowned himself at his own coronation, took the crown out of the Pope's hands. Years later he marched 600,000 men into Russia while everyone around him was screaming warnings he'd already stopped being able to hear. Died on a rock in the middle of the ocean, cut off from the empire he built.
Made a short breakdown on this — where confidence quietly turns into delusion, using Napoleon as the case study.
https://youtu.be/uJ_nNY2aih4?si=hlA_YB4ZUE8TuziJ
Genuine question: do you think it's possible to catch yourself doing this in real time, or does it only become visible in hindsight?
Not physically alone. Just unreachable. Like everyone around you is speaking a language you were never taught.
I used to think that was just me being difficult. Too deep. Too much.
But it's a pattern that goes back thousands of years.
Odysseus was the smartest man alive. He ended a ten-year war with a single idea. And yet for seven years, he sat alone on an island shore, weeping every morning. Not because he was weak. Because a restless mind with no one to connect with eventually turns on itself.
He had safety, comfort, even immortality on offer. He chose the pain of longing over the comfort of forgetting.
The most dangerous minds don't get trapped by failure. They get trapped by the walls they build to protect themselves. And then they give those walls a name. Boundaries. Independence. Standards.
The most dangerous prison has no walls. It has perfect Wi-Fi.
I explored this pattern in a short video — why isolation that starts as protection ends as self-destruction.
https://youtu.be/NQNUNk9Rdk0?si=C1zQW4C2nFYQf4Yh
Do you think intelligent people are more prone to isolating themselves — or is that just a story we tell ourselves to feel special about being alone?
​
But because they refuse to betray themselves?
Nobody tells you how exhausting it is to think deeply.
To question everything.
To notice what everyone else chooses to ignore.
At first...
You try to explain yourself.
Then you try to fit in.
Eventually...
You stop talking altogether.
Not because you have nothing to say.
But because you realize most people aren't listening to understand.
They're listening to decide whether you belong.
So you begin to shrink.
Hide parts of yourself.
Smile when you don't mean it.
Stay silent when you know the truth.
Until one day...
You look around and realize you've become a stranger to your own mind.
Maybe that's the real curse.
Not being alone...
But feeling like you have to abandon who you are just to be accepted.
I made a video exploring **The Curse of the Isolated Mind**—why deep thinkers often feel disconnected, why conformity quietly destroys identity, and how psychology explains the loneliness so many people carry without ever talking about it.
Everyone talks about smart people like they have an advantage.
But what if that's not what happened?
What if the moment you started thinking differently... the world started working against you?
You were never rewarded for seeing through the lies.
You were never celebrated for asking the questions no one else asked.
Instead — you were isolated.
Ignored.
Called difficult.
And despite spending most of your life trying to fit in...
You ended up more alone than ever.
Which makes me wonder:
How many intelligent people have been destroyed — not by failure — but by a world that couldn't handle their clarity?
And how many of us are still paying that price right now?
I made a video exploring this idea — Robert Greene's Law of Conformity and what Socrates' death reveals about modern life:
A lot of the things I've been chasing for years weren't things I consciously chose.
The career I wanted. The definition of success I had. Even some of my opinions.
When I really thought about it, most of it came from somewhere else.
Parents. School. Friends. The internet. People I wanted approval from.
It made me wonder how much of my life is actually being lived on purpose... and how much is just me following a script I picked up without noticing.
I'm not saying free will isn't real.
But I think most of us spend years running on autopilot before we stop and ask ourselves:
"Do I actually want this?"
Has anyone else had a realization like this?
I made a video about this idea called The Cycle if anyone's interested:
Everyone talks about Michael Corleone as if he slowly became a monster.
​
But what if that's not what happened?
What if Michael's fate was decided long before he ever sat in that restaurant with Sollozzo and McCluskey?
He was born into a family with its own rules. Its own beliefs. Its own definition of power. Its own expectations.
And despite spending most of his life trying to escape it...
he ended up becoming the very thing he hated.
Which makes me wonder:
How many of our biggest life decisions are actually ours?
And how many are just inherited patterns playing themselves out through us?
Do you think Michael Corleone ever truly had a choice?
I made a video exploring this idea and the concept of inherited cycles:
​
https://youtu.be/Jt5f-UlaN2Q?si=-V2mP0gfjzx9xDJF
​
​
Most people believe they're living a life they chose.
​
But think about it.
​
Your beliefs.
Your fears.
Your definition of success.
Your political views.
Even the things you desire.
​
How many of them were actually chosen by you?
​
And how many were inherited from your parents, culture, school, religion, social media, or the people around you?
​
We inherit ideas.
​
We mistake them for our own.
​
We build our lives around them.
​
Then one day we wake up and realize we've spent years chasing goals we never consciously chose.
​
The disturbing part isn't that we're trapped.
​
The disturbing part is that most people never realize they're trapped.
​
I found this idea so fascinating that I recently made a video exploring it in depth and called it The Cycle.
​
But before I share my thoughts, I'm curious about yours.
​
What's one belief you once thought was completely your own... but later realized was given to you by someone else? .
Would love to know if you agree or disagree after watching.
​
Alexander the Great never lost a battle.
He conquered kingdoms, defeated empires, and achieved more before the age of 33 than most people could in ten lifetimes.
Yet what eventually stopped him wasn't an enemy army.
It was hearing the word "no."
The longer someone wins, the easier it becomes to believe they're different. Smarter. Untouchable.
And that's what got me thinking:
At what point does success stop building a person and start destroying them?
Does success create arrogance?
Or does it simply reveal flaws that were always there?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
​
Alexander the Great never lost a battle.
He conquered kingdoms, defeated empires, and achieved more before the age of 33 than most people could in ten lifetimes.
Yet what eventually stopped him wasn't an enemy army.
It was hearing the word "no."
The longer someone wins, the easier it becomes to believe they're different. Smarter. Untouchable.
And that's what got me thinking:
At what point does success stop building a person and start destroying them?
Does success create arrogance?
Or does it simply reveal flaws that were always there?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I made a video about this idea recently.