{"id":479976,"date":"2026-02-20T13:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T13:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/479976\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T13:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T13:50:16","slug":"im-using-notebooklm-to-watch-youtube-for-me-and-im-learning-twice-as-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/479976\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m using NotebookLM to watch YouTube for me, and I’m learning twice as much"},"content":{"rendered":"

It isn’t one of Google’s most downloaded apps on the Play Store, but I use NotebookLM almost daily<\/a> for learning.<\/p>\n

While NotebookLM’s primary goal is to assist users with research and learning, you can also use the tool for brainstorming, content organization, and more.<\/p>\n

You can also use NotebookLM as a personal journal<\/a>, as many of my colleagues at Android Police do. It can also save you money if you know how to use NotebookLM smartly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, I have so far never used it for anything other than learning, because that’s where I get the most benefit from it. NotebookLM has made me twice as productive while learning since I started using it.<\/p>\n

I’ve noticed this particularly when I pair NotebookLM with YouTube. This way, I can learn more than what I did previously through watching videos.<\/p>\n

Here is how NotebookLM helped me learn twice as much from YouTube videos.<\/p>\n

How I use NotebookLM to process YouTube videos<\/p>\n

\"NotebookLM-and-YouTube\"<\/p>\n

It’s been quite some time since I earned my graduation degree, but I still learn every day. My primary source for learning new topics is through YouTube.<\/p>\n

However, since I started using NotebookLM, I no longer need to watch educational content on YouTube to learn something.<\/p>\n

It’s easy to get started. All you do is copy the URL of the video and insert it as the source.<\/p>\n

Even when NotebookLM didn’t exist, I used to watch multiple videos on the same topic from different sources to gain insights into the topic.<\/p>\n

I do the same now, but instead of watching them one after the other and taking notes, I copy the links of every YouTube video I want to watch and upload them as sources on NotebookLM.<\/p>\n

Instead of copying YouTube video links manually by switching tabs each time, I use a Chrome extension called YouTube to NotebookLM<\/a>, which can send an entire YouTube playlist directly to NotebookLM.<\/p>\n

After adding all the YouTube links, NotebookLM analyzes the transcript of the video to provide you with a summary, answers, questions, and highlights key points that you need to pay attention to.<\/p>\n

NotebookLM answers questions from the source material, not by watching or listening to the video as we do. Instead, it relies completely on video transcripts to answer your questions.<\/p>\n

The responses will show numbered citations, which will link back to the exact part of the transcript that NotebookLM used to support it.<\/p>\n

While these are all helpful, to be able to learn twice as fast, I use some of NotebookLM’s best tools, all of which are free for everyone for limited use.<\/p>\n

How NotebookLM features double my learning output<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot<\/p>\n

NotebookLM not only answers questions from the YouTube video transcripts, but it can also provide them in specific formats.<\/p>\n

For example, while learning about behavioral economics, I asked NotebookLM to highlight the core differences between Exponential Discounting and Hyperbolic Discounting in a table.<\/p>\n

It can also give you answers in bullet and numbered list formats.<\/p>\n

However, if you want to get a comparison, the table format works the best, which is something you would otherwise have to do manually by watching or reading the entire transcript of the entire video.<\/p>\n

However, learning isn’t always fun this way, and it can sometimes take more time to gain insights into a topic.<\/p>\n

Instead of learning through asking questions, I use features like Infographics and Slide Decks, which visually break down everything that I need to know.<\/p>\n

I use infographics when I need a visual summary of the topic for quick consumption, while Slide Decks is best for detailed presentations.<\/p>\n

It feels like someone has created a nice PowerPoint presentation to help you quickly digest the topic.<\/p>\n

For something more complex, I use the Audio or Video Overviews feature.<\/p>\n

I can choose their length, select the language I want to consume them in, and tell NotebookLM’s AI hosts to focus on a specific topic, which are usually the ones that I find difficult to understand.<\/p>\n

After generating the Audio and Video Overviews, I can listen to or watch them whenever I want.<\/p>\n

Mind Maps is another handy NotebookLM feature I use, especially when I want to know the relationships between two complex topics. You can also download them as a PDF.<\/p>\n

I don’t watch YouTube the same way anymore<\/p>\n

I love storytelling through the visual medium, but that’s when I watch movies or TV series, or anything for entertainment. Many educational channels on YouTube try to do this, but that’s not the right approach.<\/p>\n

YouTubers may be compelled to follow it because of how the algorithm works, but it wastes viewers’ time by telling things outside the core topic.<\/p>\n

NotebookLM cuts the unnecessary noise and filters out the core part of the video. Not only that, it also allows users to learn more about a certain topic that the video only touched on.<\/p>\n

NotebookLM is my smart assistant that can quickly decode long hours of complex YouTube videos, where key information is scattered throughout the video, and breaks it down into a smaller, digestible format.<\/p>\n

I don’t watch YouTube the same old way because I get so much more incentive when NotebookLM ”watches” them for me<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It isn’t one of Google’s most downloaded apps on the Play Store, but I use NotebookLM almost daily…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[165,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-479976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}