For a person who does not watch TV so often, this site is definitely a blessing for recreation. Having been here for at least 7-8 years now, I can easily say that Youtube is one of the best things that has happened to the Internet after the Internet and the World Wide Web. It has increased the reach of the internet and has made the idiot box redundant thus putting a lot of electronics manufacturers in jeopardy.
When I was introduced to this site, I still had an internet that ran at a snails pace, but they had managed to introduce a functionality wherein you could watch the video in low quality, something that did wonders for its popularity in the subcontinent. Throughout its existence, the site has shown its sustainability, adaptability and technological innovative capabilities.
Today I am on youtube for at least 3 hours a day, sometime 8 hours during weekends(Engineering gives me a lot of free time) but sometime I try to make it worthwhile by watching educational videos and fascinating content put by various channels like Discovery, National Geographic and TED.Youtube has in fact helped in the development of various skills and has truly bridged the gap between many teachers and students even before Open Course sites like Coursera and Edx.
The only problem these days that it is riddled with too many ads, but we can forgive them for that as it is not a non profit organisation and needs a good business model. I usually skip most of the ads anyway. Though Google did not officially create it, they did a pretty good job into making it what it is today. Kudos to them:)