# YouTube suggests I restart my device.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-suggests-i-restart-my-device/780232>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 19, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-suggests-i-restart-my-device/780232 "2017-02-19T17:14:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-suggests-i-restart-my-device/780232/1 "2017-02-19T17:14:43Z")

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I was experiencing difficulty streaming music on NPR and a radio station website. But, I had internet radio via iTunes.

Heard a nice tune, Shazamed it, and YouTubed the artist.

You Tube message says, “If you are having difficulty with the feedback, restart your device”.

I did. And everything else, (NPR, radio station, YouTube) now works.

How did YouTube know I had a problem with my device?

Why didn’t NPR tell me?

Thanks all. I am baffled by this.

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**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-suggests-i-restart-my-device/780232/2 "2017-02-19T17:44:15Z")

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Youtube probably just guessed. Restarting my device is the fix of choice for about 99% of my issues.

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**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-suggests-i-restart-my-device/780232/3 "2017-02-19T22:34:54Z")

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This is one of two secret weapons that IT and general techies have. Restarting any computer solves an astonishing array of issues.

(The only secret weapon is Google.)

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-suggests-i-restart-my-device/780232/4 "2017-02-24T14:23:21Z")

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Your OP isn’t quite clear to me. YouTube isn’t going to recommend anything unless YouTube is having problems. I’m not sure what it would mean with “feedback” in this context, either.

In general, though, it’s just that YouTube is set up with some basic troubleshooting help while NPR isn’t. YouTube, being larger, runs into these problems more often, and lacks the support staff to help for such simple situations.

Turning things off and back on is just a basic troubleshooting technique. You’re essentially telling your device to reload everything from scratch, so whatever mistake happened will hopefully not happen again. The problem is most likely in the memory–the place where the programs are active, rather than in storage.

I’m sure that, in the future, more apps will start noticing that you’re having problems and giving you basic steps on how to fix them. Google loves to innovate, and is thus trying something that most apps haven’t yet.

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**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-suggests-i-restart-my-device/780232/5 "2017-02-24T15:28:42Z")

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Thank you for your reply **BigT**.

I just thought it was amazing that YouTube knew I wasn’t receiving the data.

Then, offered a solution.