YouTube Brings New Parental Controls to Limit Teen Shorts

YouTube continues to help families manage how teens use its platform. The company has now launched new parental controls that limit the time teens spend watching Shorts. This will give parents more flexibility to set time limits while ensuring teens enjoy content safely.

New YouTube tools let teens watch Shorts in control

In recent years, Shorts have become one of the most popular types of content on YouTube, particularly among teenagers. Teens use the platform for a bunch of reasons, including learning, following favorite creators, or just passing the time. However, many parents are concerned about the amount of time their children spend scrolling through videos.

YouTube believes in “protecting kids in the digital world, not from the digital world.” That’s why the company has spent over a decade creating tools and safety features for young viewers. The new parental controls aim to help families manage screen time for Shorts. “Parents can now help teens be even more intentional about how they watch, with a control to set the amount of time spent scrolling Shorts,” YouTube wrote in its latest blog post.

As you can see in the image above, parents can set Shorts feed limits to 0, 15, 30, 45 minutes, 1 hour, or 2 hours. Note that you may not see the zero-minute option right away, as the company says it will be available soon. For example, parents can set the limit to zero during homework and then increase it to 1 hour or more on long car trips.

Furthermore, parents of supervised accounts will be able to customize Bedtime and Take a Break reminders. YouTube is also making it easier to manage family accounts with a new sign-up experience. Parents will be able to create accounts for kids and switch between accounts quickly on mobile devices. This ensures that each family member sees age-appropriate content with the right viewing experience.