[retro64]

A couple thoughts here. I was an adult before social media was a thing, or even the web, and I sometimes wonder if I would have even attempted much of the experimentation I did - doubtful, at least at that age. Why bother when now it takes only a few minutes searching to find someone who already solved the problem, and better than you (think) you could have. But now I understand I would have missed out on so much had I not even tried. Who knows what fresh angle you’ll bring to the table? It happens.

The second thought is at some point you come to terms with your own limitations (and strengths!), and you realize, yes this person is great at such and such, but am I able to do what I want in my life with my talents? Am I happy doing my thing, even if it’s not “as good” as them? Yep. So good for them. And good for you.

[hinkley]

I've noticed that I did a lot more theorycrafting in games prior to the easy availability of game streams. I think I am finally coming around to the idea that these videos should inspire me to do more theorycrafting instead of letting other people do it for me, but it's been a long journey.

The safety lectures in videos for some hobbies probably would have let me get farther along in them as a child, if I had bothered to participate instead of just spectate.

[mmcdermott]

I've had the same reaction to watching videos about strategies and combos in fighting games. What I started doing was asking myself how I could have discovered this idea and taking it back to the lab to reconstruct the discovery, so to speak.

What I've found over time is that I got better at discovering what I needed, but that it was still worth looking over some theorycrafting type videos to see anything I might have missed.

This brought me full circle to the point where, even though I was still watching a video, I felt like there was a dialogue going on ("yeah, I know A, B and C, but D is a neat trick. You seemed to have missed E though.").