Even if you’re among the most hardcore of introverts, staying home for close to two months now must be taking a toll on your sanity. Once you’ve drained Netflix dry, finished your backlog of games, and grown tired of chatting with your friends, what else is left to do? Well, with the magic of the Internet and all the resources it offers, the answer is: anything you want!
The spare time we now have, coupled with some stuff we can scrounge up around at home can give us something to do, teach us some new skills, create something new, and de-clutter, all at the same time! Here are a few great places to pick up some ideas. So please, stop watching those terrible 5-minute Crafts and Yummy videos, and do some actual learning with the following channels.
DIY Perks
One of my current favorite DIY channels, DIY Perks offers a LOT of great tutorials with very detailed instructions and great production value. His projects range from extremely simple builds with stuff you can find at home, like the Smartphone projector, all the way to complicated builds that require soldering and electronic components. Practically all of the videos are simple enough with enough attention to detail and a willingness to learn though. Of special note is his video on what to do with old or broken laptops, as there’s plenty there for all skill levels.
Check the channel out at https://www.youtube.com/user/DIYPerks
How To Cook That
A combination of DIY Cooking, myth debunking, and general cooking information, How To Cook That features videos that prove of disprove popular “quick cooking hacks” and other high-production-value-poor-real-life-results clips on the Internet (we’re looking at you, Five-minute Crafts and Tasty). Apart from being a champion for truth thanks to the actual food science degree of the host, this channel teaches you a few things along the way as well, with detailed tutorials and recipes that you’ll need to kick start a baking hobby.
Head over to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsP7Bpw36J666Fct5M8u-ZA to check this channel out.
bigclivedotcom
Another electronics/crafting page, this is lighter on the latter and heavy on the former. If you want to learn how some common electronics work, see if a lot of cheap gadgets dissected, and learn to make a few interesting bits and bobs, Big Clive is your man. With a long history working on lighting and prop-making in the UK, a heavy dose of self-deprecating humor, and a lot of hands-on knowledge, bigclivedotcom is a great resource to get started on learning a lot about little electronics things and how they work. Understanding something is the first step to making it better–one of the core tenets of the DIY mind. The production value isn’t as high as some other channels, but the information density is *way* up there.
Visit Big Clive over at https://www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom
AvE
This channel comes with a HUGE disclaimer: there’s a lot of salty language here, and AvE DOES NOT GIVE A ****. While not necessarily a great channel to watch with your kids, AvE is superb in its machining, workshop, and general poking-at-things information. The most hardcore channel on this list, check this out if you’re a more seasoned DIY/Maker and learn some tricks AvE himself picked up over a career in what can only be assumed to be a heavy industrial setting. There are a lot of machinist tricks, and the only thing in greater abundance than swearing and getting things wrong, is the amount you will learn. If you’re not a machinist or maker, AvE also does a lot of tear-downs (if you wan to know what’s up with Dyson appliances, he’s got you), so if you’re interested in consumer stuff, it’s not a bad channel to visit.
Head over to the shop at https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil but make sure you’re using headphones/kids are out of earshot/you don’t mind a lot of swearing.
Household Hacker
With a great mix of funny, informative, and actually useful videos, Household Hacker is a great channel to watch for both entertainment and education. Whether you feel like doing a little research on the latest home aid, a quick hack to make living at home a little easier, or even a quick science lesson, Household Hacker is an extremely approachable channel everyone can enjoy, with simple projects anyone can try. There’s always a little something around the house you can change or modify to make it better, though sometimes a little instruction is necessary. Household Hacker is just the guy if you don’t wan to go whole hog on something, or maybe just to get your feet wet before diving into something bigger from the other content creators on the list.
Get hacking at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI4I6ldZ0jWe7vXpUVeVcpg
If you find yourself with nothing to do at what is hopefully the tail end of the quarantine period, why not tune in to some of these channels and do a bit of DIY learning? You might even find your next hobby!