It’s tempting to stare at an online video that explains or demonstrates something, and leave it at that. I think it’s called “Illusion of comprehension” or something similar. This is problematic in that very little is retained, and is often discussed elsewhere, so you are likely already familiar with the concept.
I’d rather make useful the time and attention spent on watching such videos. One way I’ve found to do that is to “take notes” in the form of Gists. When I see something in a video that is potentially useful, I create a gist from the video content, writing it out by hand. This not only reinforces information retention, but leaves behind a small artifact that can be useful in the future. Plus, when I inevitably have one of those “Oh man, I sort of remember that thing from a video, but don’t remember where I saw it” moments, it’s possible to look through my gists and find the thing I don’t quite remember.
This is helpful, at least for me, because it helps reinforce something I’m still learning.