YouTube users can now completely remove Shorts from their home screen. The feature arrives as part of an update to the Shorts timer, which provides control to users over how much time they spend scrolling through Shorts. The timer now has an option to set the time limit to zero, which effectively removes Shorts from the home screen. This comes a few days after a US jury fined YouTube, following allegations that the platform was deliberately designed to be addictive and harmful to children.
The time limit on Shorts first arrived in October last year, allowing users to set a customisable daily limit that restricts how long they can scroll Shorts feeds. The lowest previous option was 15 minutes, but it has now been expanded to zero. The Shorts tab does not show any videos once a user hits the set limit and displays a notification that they have “reached your Shorts feed limit.” The feature also removes the Shorts tab from the home screen once a user hits the set limit. Earlier, this notification was dismissible.
Instagram and TikTok both provide similar optional screen time limits, though TikTok is the only service that extends this feature to web users. The feature is still not available on YouTube web.
How to enable the feature
If you want to remove YouTube Shorts from your feed or set a limit, you can do so by going to the settings in the YouTube app, selecting “Time management,” then toggling on the Shorts feed limit and choosing a time for it.
YouTube fined in social media addiction lawsuit
This has arrived a few weeks after a jury in Los Angeles found Meta and YouTube liable in a case alleging that their platforms were deliberately designed in ways that could addict and harm children.
The plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Meta’s Instagram, ByteDance’s TikTok, and Google’s YouTube, claiming she was harmed as a child because of addictive features on these platforms. TikTok and Snap reached settlements before the trial began.
During the trial, the plaintiff said she created YouTube and Instagram accounts when she was eight and nine years old, respectively. She testified that she soon began spending most of her time on Instagram. Her lawyer argued that design choices such as “infinite scroll” were intended to keep users hooked on the apps.
By offering time limits and removing the Shorts tab from the home screen, YouTube is providing users with an option to protect themselves if they feel they are spending too much time on the platform.
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