YouTube tightens parental controls with time limits on Shorts – Firstpost

YouTube, and other social media platforms are ramping up their parental control option as a form of safety measure amid faster growing technology and online safety which remains a hot topic recently.  

Parents can now manually set a time limit on their kids’ YouTube Shorts feed, ranging from fifteen minutes to two hours (with an option for zero minutes coming soon).  

The update was announced on Wednesday implementing additional parental controls, particularly around the amount of time their children and teens spend watching YouTube Shorts.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD

Kids and teens can’t change or disable the time limit setting on their end.

Parents will now be able to set a timer for how much time children’s connected accounts can spend watching Shorts — YouTube’s equivalent of TikToks or Instagram Reels — helping to limit the potential to waste time with mindless scrolling.

More from Tech As Nasa loses 4,000 staff after Trump cuts, China surges ahead in Moon race Nothing CEO explains why smartphones will cost you more in 2026

Parents can even block accounts from watching Shorts either permanently or temporarily if a kid is supposed to be studying by watching educational content.  

YouTube has also added an additional feature where parents can set custom Bedtime and take a break reminders. These features are also available for adults, who can opt to set their own limits and reminders.

These features build upon YouTube’s existing parental controls for teens, which include the ability to supervise a teen’s channel activity if they’re making content. This has become industry standard, as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook have similar controls.

Quick Reads

View All

Nothing CEO explains why smartphones will cost you more in 2026

Google unveils Personal Intelligence, a Gemini feature challenging Apple: Here's how you can use it

Last year, YouTube introduced age-estimation technology to predict if an account belongs to a teen so that it can suggest videos which is appropriate for the specific age group. 

TagsYouTubeHomeTechYouTube tightens parental controls with time limits on ShortsEnd of Article