It's no secret that TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram Reels want you to watch endless videos on each respective platform. Social media can be quite addictive, but now YouTube has a new feature to help prevent doomscrolling and endless YouTube Shorts playback.
While YouTube constantly adds fun new features to keep users watching videos, a surprise announcement this week revealed a new feature that'll help users spend less time watching videos. Seriously. YouTube already has an option to set a reminder to take a break, but this timer is specifically geared towards Shorts.
YouTube Shorts will allow users to "set a daily limit" for how long they can scroll through Shorts videos on a mobile device. More importantly, once you reach that limit, the app will automatically pause all Shorts videos for the day. Naturally, that "pause" is something you can easily dismiss, then go right back to scrolling, but at least it's a start. Here's what the company had to say:
"We're giving users another way to manage how they spend their time on YouTube and further customize their viewing experience. Starting today, we are beginning to roll out the ability for users to set a daily limit for how long they can scroll on the Shorts feed on mobile."
Rolling out starting this week to mobile devices, users will find a new daily limit timer for Shorts under the Settings menu. You'll be able to choose whatever time limit you'd like, then go from there. As you watch Shorts, the app will track it with a timer, then display a "dismissable prompt" stating that you've reached your limit for the day, and Shorts will pause until tomorrow.
While this is a solid first step and a move in the right direction, YouTube understands that parents may want to incorporate these types of timers on devices for children. So, later this year, YouTube Shorts will expand its parental controls to include this same Shorts feed timer. When that arrives, it'll be a proactive step for parents, and when a child runs out of the allotted time, it'll be non-dismissable, and Shorts will completely pause.
This is a growing trend in social media. Several states, like New York, want to restrict these types of apps on kids' devices, and they're not the only ones. Considering there's no official way to disable YouTube Shorts , a timer might be our only option moving forward.
Source: Google via AndroidCentral
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