Hajra Naz
YouTube is expanding its parental control features as concerns about children’s online safety continue to grow worldwide, putting more focus on how much time young users spend on short-form video.
The Google-owned platform announced Wednesday that parents will now have more control over YouTube Shorts viewing for children and teens. Parents can set time limits on how long linked child accounts are allowed to watch Shorts, YouTube’s short-form video format that competes with TikTok and Instagram Reels.
In addition to time limits, parents can block Shorts entirely. The restriction can be permanent or temporary, such as during study time when kids are expected to watch educational content instead of scrolling.
YouTube is also introducing customizable Bedtime and Take a Break reminders. These prompts encourage users to step away from videos after a certain period and can be set by parents for children or by adults for themselves.
To make account management easier, YouTube says it will soon update the app’s sign-up and login experience. The change is designed to simplify switching between adult and child accounts, reducing friction for parents—assuming users remember to toggle accounts.
Read More: YouTube Introduces Timer to Help You Limit Shorts Scrolling
The new tools build on YouTube’s existing supervision features for teens, including the ability for parents to monitor channel activity if their child is uploading content. Similar controls are now common across major social platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat.
YouTube has also been investing in age-estimation technology, introduced last year to help identify teen accounts and automatically apply age-appropriate settings.
