This is obviously not helpful if you use a smartTV or the app, in which case I would recommend using one of the third party apps like newpipe or whatever the smarttv 3p app is called
Lacking better options I’ve turned on parental controls on my phone to block YouTube, and installed an extension to remove shorts from the site on my laptop.
I wish sites provided more real options.
At least on iOS you could connect a mac and then use Apple Configurator to block installing new apps. This made it so you would have to use your Mac to enable installing new apps, creating a large amount of friction.
When I used iOS I used this method to create a "smart dumbhone" because you could have smart apps like mapping, without a browser or the ability to install distracting apps.
m.youtube.com##.rich-section-content
This blocks the shorts bar. I also block the other algorithmic surfaces and have only the search bar available.
Wish there was a way to completely turn off shorts. Youtube was significantly better 5-10 years ago.
It's not just annoying. It's not just inconvenient. It is harmful.
I get zero recommendations of new/related videos (It breaks the algorithm) and it can't remember at what point of a video I was when I left it, but it is a very cheap price to pay for the shorts brainrot
I like to use it with my kids (under age of 6) to search and find interesting videos with them. The algorithm combined with the TV apps’s UX makes it such a frustrating experience.
There is so much potential there, but searching for things like space videos inevitably funnels me into AI generated slop and conspiracies. Searching for upcoming movie trailers funnels me into completely fake trailers. It’s clear the platform is an engagement engine first and a knowledge base second.
Typical Google junk. So we get to continue seeing idiotic door-shaped videos on our desktops.
I just set shorts to 0 minutes
Tried to watch a short Got the message saying I’ve reached my limit and when I press X in the top right
I CAN WATCH SHORTS AGAIN
That is the most half assed attempt to limit my scrolling I could think of
Wow!
Also not related to prior YT posts. The secret to sanity with YT content is to never consume it on YT. FreeTube, yt-dlp, etc. are your friends.
Do you have any links that could give me more info on this?
No it doesn't. If you were hoping it would mean you don't see shorts when you visit the Youtube home page, that's not what this is. I just tried the thing mentioned in the article-- set my Shorts time limit to 0 minutes. What it does is make it so if you click a short from somewhere the short plays, but then if you try to swipe to the next one it hits you with the "You reached your short limit". If you then return to the home page you still see Shorts.
It is not in the interests of either YT or the advertisers to allow you to opt out of features that are proven to be lucrative for eyeballs.
https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/wiki/solutions/youtube
[0]: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tubegate/aokfpmegea...
Honestly, the only thing really keeping me from watching shorts is the perplexing UX decision to not show the channel name as part of the preview tile. As basic Internet hygiene it just feels real bad to click on a video without the tiniest bit of idea about its provenance. For that reason I never do and have always just wanted to hide Shorts altogether.
I want long form, well researched, well put together content. These types of content takes a long time to produce, unfortunately, and the youtube algorithm doesn't favour it.
> scrolling is paused but you may still see individual Shorts
It prevents doomscrolling, not what you see in your feed or homepage.
now I'm just angry again.
Tablets/touchscreens/phones are not the best way to experience online stuff, rather the worst. ublock origin in firefox makes internet usable in other dimension for me, since I am allergic to ads but thats another story
I switched to this. It is less fun, but also less of a timewaste.
No more Shorts.
It also has other great features that are well beyond what the Youtube app lets you do to customize the expernience.
And then I realized, it also blocks all the ads. I was a Youtube subscriber, but they alienated me with their "Shorts", so I switched apps, and then I cancelled my subscription.
Most of big tech is too big. It's ridiculous how bad these monoliths have gotten.
On desktop you can manage this with extensions. Not so much on mobile.
Profound product misalignment.
I would rather keep the ability to see a short if I need it.
You’ve added a “forbidden fruit” element to the Shorts.
I went in hoping to set it to 5 minutes. I don't see that as a problem. However, suddenly losing 15 minutes, yeah that's an issue
Plug: I added a bunch of features to Control Panel for YouTube [1] which let you either hide Shorts completely, everywhere (which is the default) or take more control of how you use them if you do (e.g. redirecting to the normal video player)
There seems to be a conflict with U block origin on Firefox on Android. The control panel didn't work when U block was on, even after I disabled "block ads" in the panel.
Currently, I have to guess who uploaded a short to decide if I want to watch it.
Brave Shields[1] - Adblock
SponsorBlock[2] - Crowd-sourced skip sponsored segments
DeArrow[3] - Make thumbnails not clickbait
UnTrap[4] - Remove shorts and make UI amazing.
Return Youtube Dislike[5]
I deleted my Google account and now occasionally use Invidious with LibRedirect[6] to watch YT videos. Importing subscriptions into Invidious was a helpful stepping stone.
[1] https://brave.com [2] https://sponsor.ajay.app [3] https://dearrow.ajay.app [4] https://untrap.app [5] https://www.returnyoutubedislike.com [6] https://libredirect.github.io/
https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/wiki/solutions/youtube
I've been hoping for more competition on alternative platforms, but everything that I've tried has failed to reach any kind of reasonable user base.
Lots of bot videos. A few schizo uploads. Stolen movies, etc. It feels like the earliest versions of YouTube and it's been a struggle to put up with. Most of them went under at some point or another, too.
I haven't really looked into any alt platforms besides interacting a little. This peertube instance[1] has a good experience but it only has a few channels. I might look more into peertube now that you mention it.
I like videos for entertainment, but for information it is a timesuck.
[1] neat.tube
Maybe the app can be given a retry if they have gotten away from the hooking/baiting at the product level.
IG/Tiktok already exist out there and I stay away from them. YT was a platform for me to learn and engage deeply. Shorts just ruined that experience for me.
On my Mac I also use Brave and have allowlisted only the YouTube domain and Google auth. No shorts, no search spam, and just slightly inconvenient.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shorts-blocker-for-youtube/id6...
Edit: also to be somewhat objective, Instagram also offers a time limit. However, I've found that just by exiting the app (or it getting killed in the background), it basically clears the lockout so you don't even have to make the effort to click the "ignore" button.
Now they're forcing creators to pump out shorts.
https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/wiki/solutions/youtube
Whitelist (skew algorithm this way please):
-bicyles
-diy clothing
-python programming
-snakes
-art how-to
-tornadoes
Blacklist (skew algorithm away from this please):
-pranks
-anything with kids
-fake DIY
-ai produced content
-only-fans people
The thing about Shorts that irks me is their completely separate classification, which suppresses useful info like the channel name, date of publication, until you go in and play them. Also, the player interface being totally different: why, just why?
They should allow you to treat shorts like normal videos and have them ranked directly against them in e.g. search results. Or, they should let you completely separate them so you have essentially a totally different app.
March 19, 2025 - 8:31 PM
April 9 - 4:09 PM
April 24 - 8 AM
May 9 - 5:33 PM
May 20 - 2:07 PM
June 8 - 5:10 PM
July 9 - 6:59 PM
August 9 - 5:14 PM
September 8 - 8:45 PM
November 9 - 8:47 PM
December 9 - 8:48 PM
Jan 8, 2026 - 9:28 PM
Feb 7 — 11:11 PM
March 10 - 9:18 PM
April 10 - 1:10 AM
I’ve also noticed “Auto play next video” once a year or so automatically enabled. Shorts also come up regardless of dismissal though less so than Playables.
There are too many devices with different accounts and apps and guest access ... like YouTube app on Smart TVs.
I added 15 min timer for my kids today, not as good as blocking them entirely from even being seen .. but at least it's something.
Maybe the app can be given a retry if they have gotten away from the hooking/baiting at the product level.
IG/Tiktok already exist out there and I stay away from them. YT was a platform for me to learn and engage deeply. Shorts just ruined that experience for me.
Them implementing this “zero minutes” thing already tells you that they have realized there is some pushback.
Why not just add an on/off toggle?
This short form , TikTok style endless scroll stuff has a junk food feeling to it , as a paying customer why can’t you just give me the option to turn this off ?
Glad, these companies are starting to get held legally responsible for the content they serve in civil courts...
Nobody likes them, or Mixes. Stop it
For those who want to see and tinker with it: Settings > Time Management
It’s all toggleable so I don’t disable the extension when I do want some neuronal junk food. But just the micro friction being added back in is such a huge help to becoming more aware when using it.
> 5 results for your search
> 10 unrelated videos that you've already watched
> An endless stream of unrelated videos
Unless they're AI slop, of course. Between shorts and AI slop, worthwhile content on YouTube will soon become almost impossible to find...
Over the years, i've curated a lot of subscriptions on youtube of such long form content (talking about things like Primitive Technology, Smarter Everyday, etc).
It simply sucks that youtube has gutted the UI for subscriptions - the layout is horrible, i can't scan it as they removed the list view, etc. And sometimes subscribed channel's videos don't even show up there - you have to visit the channel page directly to see the new videos.
it's almost as if they want people to rely only on the home page and the recommended videos from their algo.
I'm actively avoiding Shorts, Reels, and whatever else with those mechanics precisely because they pull you in and snap an hour is gone with nothing of value to show for it. It's so totally different from regular long form videos.
We regulate addictive substances too, even for adults and without relying on parents. The amount of productivity and quality of life lost to these platforms must be staggering in aggregation.
It seems like the incentive for Premium subscribers should be to keep them happy, so they keep paying, and minimize how much they watch, as they’ll be a cheaper user using less bandwidth.
Am I missing something?
That feature benefits YouTube, too. Maybe even more than its value as a Premium feature. It makes it so that viewers can skip the ads the creator was paid to make without YouTube getting a cut of the proceeds, pushing down the value of those ads.
People seemed to like Google+ but a) nymwars lead to dangerous situations (although no less dangerous than Facebook's graph search) for people that don't want to reveal their real names but also b) the merging of accounts ruined some people's Youtube channels. Zuckerberg is so much of a control freak that I suspect (based on evidence I've vaguely heard, not just my own intuition) links to Google+ used to get deleted. It used to be the case people liked it but they "couldn't get their friends to use it". So yeah - in part, inertia; but also what if you linked it and nobody saw it in the feed?
That said, Subway often seemed to get pretty heavy with its product placement. The last season of Chuck had a good amount of this, even what was essentially an ad read right in the middle of an episode by Big Mike. On Community they personified Subway and based a whole episode on him. In the Office they brought in Ryan Howard to say “eat fresh” over and over again, and even called out that it was for Subway to make sure it didn’t go over anyone’s head. Subway was big on sponsoring the last seasons of struggling shows with loyal fanbases, and littering the episodes with Subway product placement to the point where it became a plot point. I remember Zachary Levi (Chuck) tweeting out to ask everyone to go buy some Subway before the finale. It sounded like if Subway saw enough of a spike in buying from the sponsorship, they might fund yet another season.