YSK: a few ways to watch YouTube videos without using youtube.com

• Invidious: an alternative front-end that is open-source and privacy-respecting. Here are a list of open instances. If you are reasonably familiar with docker/self-hosting you can also host it yourself, but be aware it's somewhat resource- and maintenance-heavy.

• yt-dlp: this is a nice command-line program that allows you to download YouTube videos by link; also works with Peertube links. For Windows/Mac users apparently the program is available as well, but please follow their instructions. If you also have mpv installed, you can call mpv <http://youtube.link> to directly stream a video.

• NewPipe: this app on F-droid.org allows you to watch YouTube videos (and Soundcloud/Bandcamp but somewhat glitchy) with an experience very much akin to the YouTube app itself.

• (edit) As suggested, things that I missed: Piped, LibreTube (Android)

Please feel free to share other alternatives.