Browsing YouTube with search history turned off

I recently decided to trial a different, more privacy-focused browser called Zen, an open-source Firefox fork, and installed uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger on it. I am still yet to sign into my Google account on this web browser, so I do still use my old one for things such as emails... but not YouTube.

I don't know what it is, whether it's because of Zen or uBlock or Privacy Badger, but YouTube search history was automatically turned off, leaving the homepage mostly blank - and the recommended videos next to it are actually related to thet topic of the video I'm watching right now?? Granted the search history is off and empty, meaning there's nothing to potentially "pollute" the recommendations, but they're still shockingly on-topic.

I'll give you an example: I went back to watch a video on Animal Jam from a mostly outsider perspective (titled The Bizarre Lore of Animal Jam, uploaded by choopo), its history, the lore, etc. And the recommendations were filled with overviews and lore and history reviews of other Flash MMOs like Webkinz and Moshi Monsters, and even some more in-depth Animal Jam videos.

This does mean you have to actively type into the search bar the kind of video you want to watch and can't just passively find stuff, but I feel like that's a good thing and makes it a little harder to doomscroll on YouTube. And speaking of doomscrolling, Shorts aren't automatically recommended, promoting more active video watching!

Sorry for the extra punctuation and all, I just think it's really neat this is possible, especially considering the state of YouTube right now. Long story short: turn off YouTube search history! It'll do you wonders!