“See Something Wonderful” Brings Back the Charm of the Algorithmic-Free Internet
Before modern social media, a browser extension called StumbleUpon allowed you to click a button and browse a random website. I, like many people, really miss this site. Part of it was randomness: you clicked a button and you were presented with one of a carefully selected site.
Watch Something Wonderful is a simple website that offers the same experience as YouTube. Using the site is easy: just click a button and you’ll see a random YouTube video pulled from a curated collection. The videos are a mixture of comedy and infotainment, notably without anything overtly political. I ended up watching a half hour vlog style documentary about the origins of sparkling water – I’m glad I saw it and know I wouldn’t have watched it otherwise.
The site doesn’t have much information about who made it or how they select the videos – it just says “Product of Team 7” without any link. This made the site seem mysterious, so naturally I had to track down the people behind it. Finally I contacted Akhil , one of the four people behind the site. It turns out that Team 7 isn’t a company or anything – it’s “a team of four builders who love making fun things that people can use.” The other three members are Ankit , Vidhatha and Devesh .
According to Akhil, the idea for Watch Something Wonderful came from a desire to watch something while eating lunch.
“We always watch YouTube while we eat, but it takes too long to find good videos,” he told me. “So we created a site that matches you with random videos.” The site currently features 300 videos, mostly pulled from the creators’ favorite playlists and the MealTimeVideos subreddit. According to Akhil, the plan is to add a form that allows users to add their own videos.
Am I going to use this site every day for the rest of my life? No. But it’s worth stopping by and seeing what you find. Think of it as a website reminiscent of the old Internet —a chance to step outside of your YouTube algorithm for a while and, well, stumble upon something new.