YouTube now has a way for parents to block kids from watching Shorts

Los Angeles: YouTube and other social media platforms are increasing their parental controls. They want to make online safety for children a top priority. On Wednesday, YouTube shared that it will add more tools for parents. These tools will help with how long kids and teens watch YouTube Shorts. Shorts are like TikToks or Instagram Reels, and they can cause users to scroll without thinking.

Now, parents can set a timer to control how much time kids spend on Shorts. They can block accounts from watching Shorts. This can be for a short time or a long time. For example, if a child should be studying, parents can stop them from watching Shorts.

YouTube is also adding reminders to help users take breaks or have bedtime alerts. Both kids and adults can use these reminders. Parents who use YouTube often find it hard to switch between their accounts and their kids’ accounts. YouTube says it plans to make this task easier soon. Families will be able to switch accounts with a few taps.

These new controls add to what YouTube already offers to parents. They can see what their teens are doing on their channels. Other social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook also have similar controls. Last year, YouTube introduced age-estimation technology to help predict if an account belongs to a teen. This technology helps ensure that kids receive age-appropriate content.