You don't know what you get though, even without an AI driven "engagement" algorithm. If the pace of new videos being uploaded is fast enough there will be no shortage of hours to mindlessly scroll (if that's your goal). It gives everyone an equal chance to be discovered, and from there more popular videos will have their own tabs so you can see what other people like too. The short video format is plenty addictive without pushing for maximum retention, because there's no reason to - other platforms do it to increase your screen time so they can show you more ads. That's all it is. All it ever was. They don't give a shit about you or your enjoyment(YouTube dislikes?), in fact, one method of raising engagement is to make you angry, they do this a lot. It works, it's a lesson they learned from the effectiveness of rage baits.

It's honestly frustrating how so many people want the same old shit algorithmiclly based feed when we've finally gotten rid of the fucking disease.