I find that youtube videos can be very helpful if I search for a subject of interest. Freetube has a good search function for youtube. Freetube usually works for me, although sometimes I have to change my vpn location.

I also have a number of channels that I follow using RSS (QuiteRSS). I can be very selective in which channels to follow. I regularly add and delete channels. I use Freetube to search subjects and find channels to follow related to those subjects. I watch the RSS videos in a librewolf browser that deletes cookies every time I shut it down, and it has medium privacy settings.

The youtube feed is horrible, as are the advertisements. I don’t get any advertisements, I am not sure if it is because of adblock or if it is because I never sign in to google/youtube on my device. The sidebar of related videos is somewhat like a feed and contains a lot of junk, but occasionally I find an interesting video or channel by looking at the sidebar while watching a video.

I am happy with the way my setup is working now, but of course things could change at any time.