YouTube Parental Control Update: Parents Can Now Limit Shorts and Set Bedtimes
Amid growing concerns over algorithmic addiction and screen time, YouTube is handing parents the keys to the scroll. The platform announced on Wednesday a significant expansion of its YouTube parental control suite, specifically targeting the addictive vertical video feed that often keeps young users glued to their screens for hours.
The update introduces the ability for parents to enforce a “hard cap” on Shorts consumption for under-18 accounts, moving beyond simple notifications to active, unchangeable restrictions.
Locking Down the Feed
The core of this YouTube parental control update is a new manual timer setting. Parents can now restrict their child’s access to the Shorts feed to a specific duration, ranging from 15 minutes to two hours.
Crucially, unlike previous digital wellbeing tools that could be easily bypassed, children and teenagers cannot change or disable these limits from their end. Once the parent sets the rule via the YouTube parental control settings, it is locked. YouTube also confirmed that an option to set the limit to “zero minutes”—effectively blocking access to Shorts entirely while keeping long-form videos available—will be rolling out soon.
Mandatory Bedtimes and Breaks
Beyond the feed itself, the platform is repurposing its general wellness features into mandatory oversight tools. Guardians can now set custom “Bedtime” and “Take a break” reminders on their children’s accounts. While these features have been available as optional nudges for adult users, the new YouTube parental control options allow parents to configure them as mandatory interruptions, ensuring minors disconnect at night.
This rollout follows YouTube’s initiative launched last year to identify and restrict unsupervised minors using AI-driven age estimation, which analyzes user activity to flag potential underage users.
Streamlining Account Safety
To prevent issues before they start, YouTube is also overhauling the onboarding process. An update to the sign-up page, expected in the coming weeks, will allow parents to manually select their child’s age category at the moment of account creation. This will automatically configure the appropriate YouTube parental control levels and content restrictions, eliminating the need to dig through complex settings menus later.
An Industry-Wide Shift
YouTube’s latest measures mirror a broader trend across the social media landscape, as tech giants face increasing pressure to protect young users.
Meta introduced sweeping restrictions across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger last year, implementing “PG-13” content filters. Similarly, TikTok implemented a default 60-minute daily screen time limit for users under 18 back in 2023. With this update, YouTube closes the gap, offering robust YouTube parental control tools to help guardians manage the digital diet of their children.
