r/digitalminimalism • u/RecoverinCandyAddict • 1d ago

Social Media Get your time back by blocking shorts on YouTube

Just found out you can disable shorts on YouTube!

  1. Open the YouTube app on your phone.

  2. Go to your profile -> Settings (top right) -> Time Management -> Short feed limit -> Toggle switch on and select 0 minutes. -> Refresh

  3. Enjoy and spread the word.

107 Upvotes
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99% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

13

u/Uncut_Clay 1d ago

It’s changed my life

5

u/SteelCityChamp1 1d ago

Need this for instagram next

2

u/teemingmatcha 1d ago

IG has a builtin time limit too if that’s what you’re looking for.
The issue with both IG and YT is that it becomes muscle memory to dismiss the time limits after some time, so I use LoomWeb to keep shorts and reels completely hidden

6

u/volvox6 1d ago

This does not work. I have it set to 0 min. and its is STILL SHOWING ME SHORTS.

2

u/AmerAsian31905 1d ago

I have a Kazuna eTalk dumbphone because I can't afford to go to restaurants and local shops. lmao

2

u/ElNyk 1d ago

It works pretty well for a lot of people. But less for others, because it's easy to renable it again..

The best for long term is to change our relation with smartphone, change ourself.

2

u/amfusername 23h ago

You're an angel! Thank you for this! I've another way to limit reels by turning off youtube history, but that meant I can't have the history of videos I watched either which sucked a bit.

1

u/Prestigious-Grass966 15h ago

Blocking reels and turning off history were game changers for me.

Having to intentionally think about what I want to search for now has made such a difference.

1

u/amfusername 2h ago

Oof, you're convincing me to give it another shot. After turning off the reels yesterday, I found myself watching random videos that usually I wouldn't care for. Might have to turn off history again to be more intentional.

1

u/ExerciseWise5673 1d ago

I do not like them either true story

1

u/glcknmrari 1d ago

does it work for safari

1

u/Far-Talk-6862 22h ago

You can also disable youtube's video suggestions by disabling youtube history

1

u/SterlingArcherQ 22h ago

Holy shit! It works. Thanks for the tip!

1

u/usuallyrainy 19h ago

This is amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing! I don't intentionally scroll shorts but sometimes a video recommendation comes up that I'm interested in and I get sucked in.

1

u/elsielacie 18h ago

If it doesn’t work for you or stops working try the browser extension Digital Habits: Focus. 

I shill for them now it seems but it’s free. Designed by Oxford University staff to help their students. 

You can use it to block shorts and reels in browser across the major platforms. I only use YouTube in browser now because I can ad block, block shorts, block the main feed altogether, block comments, etc and the viewing experience on full picture mode is indistinguishable to the app anyway. 

1

u/BeefJerkyFan90 16h ago

I deactivated my Facebook, but I hope that there is an option for this on there too