YouTube Adds New Timer Feature To Help You Stop Scrolling Shorts All Day: How It Works

It has happened to all of us – you open YouTube to watch one quick Short, and an hour later, you’re still scrolling. To help users take control of that endless loop, YouTube is introducing a new Timer feature for Shorts. The feature lets you set a daily limit on how long you can scroll through short videos before the app nudges you to stop. Also Read: New Google Maps Change On Android Auto Fixes A Longtime User Frustration

What The New YouTube Shorts Timer Does

Once you turn on the feature, you can decide how much time you want to spend watching Shorts in a day. When you hit that limit, YouTube will show a small pop-up telling you that your Shorts feed is paused for the day. You can dismiss the prompt and continue watching – but the reminder is meant to help you stay aware of your screen time. Also Read: Most AI Assistants Found Sharing Fake Or Misleading News, Google Gemini Leads In Errors: Study

For now, the Shorts Timer is being rolled out on the YouTube mobile app, and users around the world will start getting it soon. At this stage, the feature isn’t connected to parental controls, so parents can’t yet set limits for their kids. YouTube says that support for parental controls is coming later this year, and once that happens, kids won’t be able to dismiss the pop-up after hitting the limit. Also Read: YouTube To Curb Deepfake Videos Of Popular Creators With This AI Tool: Here's How

Why YouTube Is Doing This

Social media apps have often been blamed for promoting “doomscrolling” – the habit of endlessly watching or scrolling through content. Studies have linked this to anxiety, distraction, and lower attention span. With Shorts being one of YouTube’s fastest-growing formats, the company seems to be taking steps to address those concerns.

This isn’t YouTube’s first attempt at promoting digital wellbeing. The app already has a “Take a Break” reminder that alerts users every 15, 30, 60, or 90 minutes, and a “Bedtime Reminder” that suggests putting the phone down after a set time at night.

The new Shorts Timer builds on those tools, targeting the one part of YouTube most people lose track of time in. Whether users actually stick to their limits or just swipe the prompt away remains to be seen – but at least now, YouTube is giving everyone a gentle nudge to stop scrolling.