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| PHOTO CREDIT: YOUTUBE |
YouTube has announced new parental control features aimed at giving parents greater control over how teens use the platform. The latest updates focus on limiting time spent watching YouTube Shorts and promoting more age-appropriate content across the service.
According to a recent blog post, parents of supervised accounts can now set daily limits on how long teens are allowed to scroll through Shorts. YouTube says parents will soon be able to set the Shorts feed limit to zero, effectively disabling Shorts for the entire day. Alternatively, parents can allow limited access, such as during travel or free time.
Available time options include 15, 30, and 45 minutes, as well as 1 or 2 hours. In addition to Shorts limits, parents can also enable custom Bedtime and Take a Break reminders to help manage screen time more effectively.
YouTube is also introducing new content principles and a dedicated creator guide designed to encourage fun, higher-quality, and age-appropriate videos for teen audiences. These guidelines were developed with input from the Youth Advisory Committee and the Centre for Scholars and Storytellers at UCLA, alongside experts from organizations such as the American Psychological Association and Boston Children’s Hospital.
Finally, YouTube plans to roll out an updated sign-up experience in the coming weeks. Teens will be placed into protected under-18 accounts by default, while parents will be able to easily create and manage kids’ accounts and switch between profiles directly within the mobile app.