How to turn off YouTube Shorts and avoid endless scrolling

YouTube Shorts can be a quick source of entertainment, but this quick stream often eats into your valuable time and leaves you wondering if there is a way to limit it and save your day. Shorts are built to keep you watching through an endless loop of short clips that slowly drain focus and attention. Breaking this pattern begins with taking back control of your digital habits, especially by setting clear limits on what you watch and how much you watch. In this guide, I will walk you through simple steps that help you reduce or disable YouTube Shorts. This will help you use your time with more intention and less distraction and regain focus during the day.

How to disable YouTube Shorts on your Android and iOS devices

If you want to disable YouTube Shorts, then all you need to do is to follow the easy steps outlined below:

1. Launch the YouTube app on your Android or iOS device.

2. Tap your profile picture and press the Settings icon.

3. Select Time Management from the available options.

4. Enable the button next to the Shorts Feed limit.

5. Choose the Short Feed limit you want to set. You have options from 0 minutes to 2 hours.

Once you choose how long you want to watch Shorts, you’ll only be able to watch them for that duration. If you select 0 minutes, the restriction takes effect immediately.

Benefits of limiting the YouTube Shorts

If you limit the YouTube Shorts viewing time, it can have many benefits, including the following:

• It can help you focus more on long-form content that needs better focus and can help you learn things in detail.
• It can save time, as just one more loop turns 5 minutes into an hour without you realising it.
• Reduces mental exhaustion, as constant swiping forces your brain to evaluate new context every 60 seconds.
• Without the Shorts algorithm pushing trending clips, you are more likely to seek out specific, high-quality videos you actually want to watch.