YouTube is adding an option to limit the time you spend watching Shorts

[harlan4096]

YouTube is rolling out an option that will allow users to set a limit on how long they watch Shorts every day. Is Google admitting that Shorts are affecting the mental health of viewers?

Social media has affect people's reading comprehension, and writing habits. IYKYK. They may be designed for entertainment, but they do more harm than good.

When was the last time you read a book from start to finish? Smartphones have made people dumber. Even AI is making people lazier, as they have begun to rely on summaries instead of reading an article. TL;DR.

Short videos, or as I like to call them, brain rot, are a real problem. Brain rot is an officially recognized word by Oxford. In fact, it was Oxford's word of the year in 2024. Short videos have influenced people negatively. It's a common sight on trains, buses, planes, to see people just doomscrolling away, with no end in sight.

Some people stay up in bed staring at their mobile screens, aimlessly scrolling their feed. "YouTube Shorts are now averaging over 200 billion daily views", those were the words of Neal Mohan, YouTube's CEO. He said that in June 2025. That's not good.

What's good is that YouTube is addressing the problem, even if it won't say it outright. An announcement was made on YouTube's support community says that it is introducing an option to allow users to set a daily limit for how long they can scroll on the Shorts feed on mobile.

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