I find shorts actively annoying.

Every once in a while I click on one because it's not just a small tidbit from a longer video, and every time I get annoyed the feature exists and don't want to see another one for a long time.

I don't understand Shorts. My primary use case for YouTube is putting some 20-30 min video on the TV while I eat. I barely watch YouTube in any other context.

I may be unusual but there's an entire subreddit for "mealtime videos" so this use case must be common.

> disabling watch history also disables Shorts.

I have YouTube watch history disabled and when I search for something I usually get a few "lines" of search results filled with "Shorts".