I got tired of seeing clickbaity thumbnails and wondered if I would be happier without them at all.
I added ytimg.com to my blacklist as a wildcard about a month ago and I’ve found that I use the website more deliberately than before. And it works on the YouTube app for Android and my smart TV!
If you don’t want to block it for every device on the network you can add it to the Group Management lists as well.
Granted this doesn’t help all the devices in the network but I’ve been happy with Unhook -extension. You can choose to block recommendations, suggestions, video walls, cards etc. I really don’t miss them. Turns out, if I only watch videos I searched for I won’t waste so much time on YT :P