Turning Autoplay off, and getting rid of ads (Youtube Premium is well worth it across all devices) is a big level up. Blocking shorts is the other thing.
The "ad free option" is also called "muting and looking away". Don't let them trick you into thinking they have the right and control to shove anything they want into your mind.
Sponsorblock offers by far the best experience. It skips over channel intros and outros, engagement prompts, sponsored segments, tangents, etc (configurable per channel) and offers jumping to "highlight" (that is, the most important part of the video).
Highly ironic that the best experience is free, and no paid option gets even close. Tim Cook watching paid Youtube on Apple TV device has far worse experience than some random kid with Firefox and Sponsorblock gets for free.
