How to Stop Wasting Time on YouTube
Jan. 19, 2021YouTube is undoubtedly one of the bestwebsites to kill timeand consume content across different categories. However, with the abundant supply of content, one often loses track and ends up spending a lot of time watching YouTube videos. If you’re one of them, this one is for you. Here is how you can stop wasting time on YouTube.
Stop Wasting Time on YouTube
We’ve included a browser extension, settings you can change inside the YouTube app, app timers, and a few tips based on our usage. If you often find yourself spending hours mindlessly watching whatever YouTube algorithm throws at you, read on till the end to know how you can take control over your YouTube watching habits and spend less time on the platform.
Once you’ve enabled the features you need, the extension will automatically place bunnies in the place of video recommendations. This way, you can watch what you want to watch as opposed to watching random YouTube video recommendations. If you want to take control over your YouTube watching habits, I’d highly recommend checking this extension out.
Download YouTube Rabbit Hole (Free)
To set up a break reminder, open YouTube and go toSettings -> General -> Remind me to take a break. Thereminder’s frequency can range from every 5 minutes to every 23 hours and 55 minutes. You can choose the duration that works best for you. If you ask me, I’d recommend setting a reminder every 30 minutes.
Coming to bedtime reminders, you’ll find the option to set it up fromSettings -> General -> Remind me when it’s bedtime. Here, you canset the start and end time of your sleep hoursor any time you don’t want to spend watching videos. You also have the option to get reminded after completing the current video, which should be effective as long as you’re not playing 10-hour extended versions of songs or memes. While these features won’t lock you out of YouTube, you can use these as a sign to close it.
If you are at a point where you need an extra push to disconnect from YouTube,you can rely on one of the app timers to lock you out of YouTubeonce you’ve exhausted your daily usage limit. You can use Android’sDigital wellbeingfeature oriPhone’s screen timefeature to achieve this. One third-party app that does this task well is Freedom. You’ll find more app timer apps and websites in our coverage of thebest focus apps.
On Android phones, openSettings -> Digital Wellbeing & parental controls, and tap on Dashboard. From the list of apps, find and press YouTube. Once you’ve reached the dedicated page for YouTube, choose ‘app timer’ and set the time you want to spend watching YouTube in a day.
Apart from all these, here are the methods I follow to make sure that I don’t waste a lot of time on YouTube. First up, you should introspect your content consumption habits. A good place to start would be tounsubscribe channels that you no longer find interesting or valuable enoughto spend your time on.
If the platform keeps suggesting videos you’re not interested in and you don’t want to use the YouTube rabbit hole extension,you can click ‘Not interested’ or ‘Don’t recommend channel’ optionsto remove them on both PC and mobile. While this is intended to curate your recommendation feed, you can use it to your advantage by clicking ‘Not interested’ on addictive content and videos that don’t necessarily add value.
So, those are the ways we found to help you stop wasting time on YouTube. Do you follow anything else that’s not mentioned here? Do not forget to let us know in the comments. To make the most out of the time you spend watching YouTube, check out our article on thecool YouTube tips and tricks.
Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.
