You can very "effectively" waste time reading articles daily, literally no different from the time wasted on YT. The only difference is reputation of "printed letters" is higher than of "video". But the mechanism is the same - wasting time on some quick entertainment (yes, reading longform articles is also a quick entertainment) for a dopamine hit, then switch to the next one. I do it for years now.
I don't think this is a waste. When I read articles linked here from HN I actually learn something.
On Youtube it's mostly vacuous showmen like Linus tech tips and Mr Beast crap. I don't think there is much worth watching there except perhaps EEVBlog.
