All mass media will inevitably produce things that are garbage. Video has been the dominant form of media since it became widespread in the 50s.<p>Marshal McLuhan was the first to clue in to the effects of media types, with his famous quote "The medium is the message". He wrote extensively about media. A book that you are likely to identify strongly with is "Amusing Ourselves to Death". It basically argues that we are becoming a trivial culture because of our dependence on visual media.<p>It can easily seem like you get dumber the more videos you watch, but I suspect that's because it's far more common to have Facebook autoplay some retarded video of a fluffy animal your 'friend' shared than it is for someone to write out a thoughtful essay or email to you.
I disagree. I watch some highly informative videos, it depends on the subject matter. What videos are you watching? I watch a lot of tech talks (mostly listen to them while working) and I get value out of them. I live such a busy lifestyle and work on a computer where I can't read books, but I can bring up a Youtube video in a small section of my screen or listen to something.