The YouTube Mirage
A short plea against mistaking exposure for understanding
In a previous issue, I questioned how we often equate Google searches with genuine research. This time, I turn my attention to another modern phenomenon that gives us the illusion of being informed—YouTube.
Watching a video about a topic doesn't automatically translate to understanding. Exposure is not the same as comprehension. Let’s explore why.
During a management development program, a participant (Lee) excitedly shared that they had seen “a very interesting YouTube video” on the topic we were discussing.
Someone asked, “Great. What did it say?”
Lee’s response: “I can send you the link. You can all watch it yourselves.”
The group pressed gently: “But we’re here now, and we’re curious. Just give us the gist. Maybe we can discuss it.”
Lee couldn’t. They didn’t remember what it said—only that it existed and that it was about the topic.
The Mirage of Information
It’s a common scenario, and it reveals something essential about how we consume information today:
Awareness isn’t comprehension. Knowing a video exists doesn’t mean you understood it—or even watched it carefully.
Familiarity feels like knowledge, but isn’t. Passive consumption creates the illusion of insight without substance.
“I can send you the link” is a tell. It signals that the content itself wasn’t internalized, only bookmarked.
Information location is not information retention. Finding something is not the same as learning from it.
The illusion holds… until someone asks a question. That’s when the gap between exposure and understanding comes into view.
Consuming content without integrating it is just entertainment. Real learning changes the way you think, act, or explain.
Breaking the Illusion
To move from exposure to understanding:
Summarize what you consume. If you can’t say it simply, you haven’t learned it deeply.
Apply it. Could you use this idea to solve a real problem?
Talk about it. Discussion reveals blind spots that passive watching never touches.
Interrogate it. What’s missing? What doesn’t sit right?
Integrate it. How does this shift what you already believe or know?
Let it change you. Otherwise, it’s just passing scenery.
Knowing where the knowledge is isn't the same as knowing. We live in an age of links. But links aren’t learning.
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For something completely different
I just published Spirit and Structure: A Minimalist Reflection (On the Occasion of the Upcoming Conclave) on my blog.
As the College of Cardinals gathers in the Sistine Chapel today to elect the successor to Pope Francis, I consider the interplay between human structures and divine guidance in the life of the Church.
It is a departure from my usual writing about leadership and management. But not a detour. It’s a quiet reflection on leadership of a different kind—spiritual, ecclesial, and paradoxically both human and divine. With the conclave now underway, I’ve been thinking about the nature of Church leadership and how it’s shaped not only by visible structures but also by something deeper, more enduring. I offer this piece in that spirit.
See you next week!