YouTube has been around for over 15 years, and amongst the videos of cats đ, people giving their opinion on whatever nascent thought wafted into their heads đŁand other people reacting to said opinions đ, it's also got some pretty solid knowledge enhancing content.
Below are my three choices of the best channels to give your mind, and your body, some learning.
No, I'm not affiliated to any of these content creators, nor are these sponsored links, these are actually just channels that I personally enjoy watching and get a lot of entertainment and guidance from.
CGP Grey
CGP Grey is an ex teacher that has been making sharp animated educational videos on YouTube for about ten years now.
He shot to fame with his video that explained how the UK worked, or rather, how it's a country, that contains countries, and to this day I believe that's still his most watched video with 20mn views. It's also handily topical as a I write this given its Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee weekend! đââď¸
I first came across him as one half of the hosts of the now defunct Hello Internet podcast with Brady Haran (a fellow Australian), where they talked about, well, stuff.
He's not just educational when it comes to specific topics that might interest people, like the aforementioned UK explainer through to who owns the Statue of Liberty in New York City. He's also informative on the whole idea of content creation given he's being doing it for so long. The way to get his take on the industry, is by listening to his current podcast, Cortex, co-hosted by Myke Hurley.
I think I once Tweeted that CGP Grey was my spirit animal, mostly because his approach to life is kind of like that of an aloof anthropologist, who has come to this world to study humans. Plus he's a dude that isn't from London that's pretty much become a Londoner, like yours truly đ.
Kurzgesagt
Kurzgesagt is a German based channel, that creates English language educational content covering science, technology, politics, philosophy and psychology. So basically everything.
The word kurzgesagt basically means "in short", which is the method the channel does its explainers, short, snappy, fun animations.
And fun is key, Kurzgesagt has really slick colourful engaging illustrations that bring their videos to life, they're so good they even make a nuclear winter less depressing than it should be. Though it's probably a depressing sign of our times that such a video even needs to exist...đŹ
Athlean-X
You weren't expecting this, were you? Not all education needs to be around how the world works or STEM subjects. It's also important to educate yourself on how to keep your body in good shape đŞ.
People are living longer, so with that, it's important to ensure that when you're 70, you're still able to move around freely, because if not, then it could be another 20 years you're going to be hobbling around with poor mobility.
Athlean-X is the channel of Jeff Cavaliere, a qualified physical therapist who was the the Assistant Strength Coach and Head Physical Therapist of the New York Mets baseball team.
The channel is a bit 'gym bro' in nature, pretty obviously aimed at males that want to look muscly, however, Jeff Cavaliere whilst leaning into that, doesn't forsake his experience and ensures that all the exercises and movements covered come from a place of perfect form to ensure longterm strength gains and body functional movement maintenance đ¤¸ââď¸.