If Shorts have been dominating your feed (and consuming your time), this is a significant improvement.
Essential information:
– YouTube now allows you to set Shorts usage to zero minutes, effectively restricting access from the main home feed.
– This new setting is found under Time management and creates friction by blocking the Shorts tab once the limit is reached.
– Shorts are not completely eliminated, as they will still show up in subscriptions and can be accessed via shared links.
If YouTube Shorts have been consuming your time and dominating your home feed, YouTube is finally introducing a feature that allows you to conceal them, at least to some degree.
Last year, YouTube revealed a feature that enables users to set time restrictions on how long they engage with Shorts, and it appears it is finally being implemented. As noted (and confirmed) by The Verge, the YouTube app now offers an option to set the Shorts time limit to zero minutes.
Initially, YouTube stated the time limit would range from 15 minutes to two hours, but they have now included a zero minutes option as well, effectively allowing you to deactivate YouTube Shorts. The ‘zero minutes’ timer is confirmed to be active for parents and is currently being rolled out to all users.
To utilize this feature, access the YouTube app settings by tapping the profile icon in the bottom right and then the Settings (gear icon) in the upper right. From there, navigate to Time management settings and specify a daily limit for Shorts. Once activated, a prompt will ask you to select the duration, where you can now choose zero minutes.
After setting it to zero minutes, if you attempt to access the Shorts tab, a pop-up will inform you that you’ve reached your limit, providing options to go back or disregard it. While this doesn’t entirely eliminate Shorts from the app, it does introduce a layer of friction to its usage.
Android Central’s viewpoint:
This may not be a complete Shorts termination switch, but honestly, I’m in favor of it. Adding friction can sometimes be all that’s necessary to break a habit, and setting it to zero minutes might finally assist me in halting my endless scrolling.
It’s also important to highlight that Shorts will still display in your subscriptions feed, and you can open them through direct links. This setting primarily impacts the Shorts tab on the home page.
The feature is currently being rolled out, so you should expect to see it on your device shortly.