I can’t recall how many times I’ve opened YouTube to research or study and ended up falling into the algorithm trap that sucks up at least half an hour of my work time. I really need to break this habit — a couple of videos are fine, but YouTube completely immerses you in its never-ending feed.
Now, uninstalling YouTube or completely removing it from my life isn’t the solution. Instead, I made a few changes to take back control of my feed, so it reflects my interests rather than becoming a randomized content sinkhole.
Turning off autoplay stopped the endless binge
I went to watch one video — was forced to stay for a few more
Once you click a YouTube video, you can’t go back. The service will keep shoving a horde of videos related to what you’re watching and, other times, something entirely different. Sometimes, it’s easy to get stuck on the same tab while videos play back-to-back, and you eventually lose track of time.
Other times, the autoplay feature outright sucks: it starts playing completely unrelated, off-topic videos, and, based on that single view, YouTube will pollute your feed with topics and interests that are completely different. Then, your only option is to dislike videos on those topics and continue spamming “not interested” until your feed goes back to what it used to be.
I will always prefer to keep autoplay turned off. The feature is already disabled for those under 18, but for everyone else, here’s how to do so:
- Click your Profile icon.
- Go to Settings.
- Go to Playback.
- Toggle off Autoplay for the next video.
YouTube Shorts are designed to never let you stop
A 15-minute cap now keeps my swiping in check
The vertical video format has taken over the internet. It is the universal format for all sorts of content across most apps, whether it’s TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or even LinkedIn these days. On YouTube, where most entertainment content lives, the infinite scroll keeps you hooked until you lose track of time. Psychologically, YouTube Shorts gives your brain dopamine spikes to the point that scrolling becomes an involuntary habit.
I have a terrible habit of scrolling through YouTube before bed and first thing in the morning, and it has taken up most of my time and ruined my sleep schedule. For some, this addiction becomes worse and is not even recognized as a problem until you account for the total hours in the day and realize that a chunk of it is wasted on doomscrolling. Now, every once in a while, I deserve a break, and I am not anti-social media, but I believe everything should have a set time to avoid ruining the schedule overall. This is why I’ve put a time limit on YouTube Shorts to keep myself from wasting time that I could be spending elsewhere being productive.
To do so is pretty simple; follow these steps:
- Select your Profile.
- Go to Settings and then Time Management.
- Under Daily limits, enable Short feed limits.
I’ve set it to 15 minutes a day, but you can extend or reduce the limit. To completely restrict YouTube Shorts, just set the timer to zero. Also, you can prompt YouTube to remind you of bedtime and adjust your sleeping hours by setting when to start the reminder and when to end it.
Video previews were spoiling everything and distracting me from what I was there to do
Disabling it also saves your data plan
To me, YouTube previews are the worst part of the service. I understand it’s meant to give you a foretaste of the video you’re about to watch, but it only spoils the content. Firstly, you can’t even get a proper look at the thumbnail without the preview playing, which ruins the content itself by giving you major spoilers instead of a sneak peek. Then the previews themselves are annoying because they stitch together random parts of the video, cluttered with large subtitles that I strongly dislike.
Previews also drain your mobile data if you’re on one, and while a preview from a single video is trivial, over time it adds up to a major portion.
To disable YouTube previews, simply follow these steps:
- Click on your Profile.
- Go to Settings and then Playback.
- Disable Previews.
A cleaner subscription list fixes any remaining holes
While these tips help avoid distractions designed to keep you hooked, your feed is the root of your algorithm problem, and you should start there to take control. An account with subscriptions spanning too many unrelated interests will end up with a bloated feed. This is why I’m very mindful of the channels I subscribe to. You can also audit your subscriptions and unsubscribe from channels you’re not interested in. Even then, if your feed looks the same as before, keep clicking “not interested” on videos you aren’t keen on, and you’ll end up with a leaner, on-point feed since the home page reflects what you actively watch and see instead of pushing random content.