YouTube’s endless Shorts feed has long been a point of concern for parents who feel their teens are getting sucked into a cycle of quick, addictive videos. Now, the platform is finally handing parents a stronger remote control. In a new update announced Wednesday, YouTube said it will allow parents to simply limit how much time their teens spend scrolling through shorts or block it altogether if needed. The new feature is part of a broader set of parental controls aimed at giving families more say in the way young users experience YouTube. Over the past year, pressure has been building on big tech companies to do more for child safety, with parents, children’s rights groups and lawmakers all questioning how social media apps affect young minds. Short-form videos in particular have been criticized for encouraging mindless scrolling and making it hard for teens to get sucked into it.

YouTube update: Parents get new power to stop teens from wasting time

With this update, parents who monitor their teens’ YouTube accounts can now set daily time limits specifically for shorts. This limit can be anything from two hours to zero minutes. In simple terms, parents can turn off Shorts completely when they want their child to concentrate, or allow limited access when they feel it’s okay. YouTube itself gave a related example: Parents can block shorts during homework time and later open a 60-minute window during a long car trip so their teens can stay entertained.

Along with shorts limits, YouTube is also expanding tools that help parents manage screen time more broadly. Parents will now be able to set custom bedtime reminders and “take a break” alerts for their teens. While YouTube already turns on some well-being reminders by default for users under 18, this change gives parents more control to tailor those reminders based on their child’s routine and habits.

Another important change is aimed at reducing friction for families sharing devices. YouTube is rolling out a new sign-up flow that makes it easier for parents to create supervised accounts for their kids. It will also make it easier to switch between teen and adult accounts on the same phone or tablet, so parents don’t have to go into Settings every time someone else picks up the device.

Content recommendations for teens are also being refreshed. YouTube says it will now focus more on pushing videos that encourage curiosity, creativity and learning. It includes content related to life skills, new experiences and information that supports mental and emotional well-being. Additionally, the platform says it will continue to restrict repeated exposure to videos that could lead teens into a cycle of unhealthy content, such as videos that promote unrealistic body standards. These protections are already in place but will now be strengthened under the updated guidelines.

The timing of the update is not accidental. Last year, YouTube announced that it would start using artificial intelligence to guess the age of users. If the system suspects a user is a teen, YouTube enforces tighter protections for people under the age of 18, even if the account has an adult date of birth listed. The move was seen as a way to prevent young users from bypassing security settings by entering a false age during sign-up.

In its blog post, YouTube described the shorts limit as a first step for the industry. The company said parents can now help teens be more intentional about how they look rather than basing decisions on an algorithm. The option to set the shorts timer to zero, which will launch soon, is being introduced as a way for parents to draw firm limits without blocking YouTube entirely.

How to Stop Teens from Scrolling Wastefully on YouTube: Is There a Step-by-Step Process?

Since YouTube is still in the process of rolling it out, it hasn’t revealed where the option will be located. But, we can say that you will find it in the Settings section under the Shorts Feed Limit option.