Lol this is callback to some of the weirdest things that have ever been told. Let me know in the comments what the strangest thing you have ever been told is!
To listen while using other apps, switch the player to Picture-in-Picture (PiP) during playback — it keeps playing in a small floating window (the screen stays on).
To listen with the screen fully off, in-browser playback stops by YouTube's design. Open the video in the YouTube app to keep listening where background playback is supported (e.g. with YouTube Premium).
Open in YouTube app