So every time your mouse activates the thumbnail preview: that’s a view.
Don’t bother trying to turn that feature off. They just turn it back on. Flipping those fake settings buttons is just more engagement “money” for them to harvest.
On PC you need to turn off view history and use Ublock Origin to block EVERYTHING on YT but the player and some basic UI buttons and maybe comments.
righty tighty lefty loosy. There. You’re now more qualified for PC repair than any one working at best buy/target.