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YouTube Rolls Out Parental Controls to Curb Teens’ Shorts Scrolling

Parents get a Shorts timer on supervised accounts, plus custom wellbeing reminders with new principles to steer teen recommendations.

Overview

  • Parents of supervised under-18 accounts can set daily limits on the Shorts feed, with a zero-minute option to fully block coming soon, which YouTube describes as an industry first.
  • Custom Bedtime and Take a Break reminders are now available for supervised teens, expanding on default wellbeing protections.
  • YouTube introduced "high-quality teen content" principles and a creator guide developed with experts including UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers, the American Psychological Association and Boston Children’s Hospital to elevate educational content in recommendations.
  • The new controls are rolling out now to teen accounts, with a simplified sign-up flow and easier mobile account switching scheduled in the coming weeks.
  • The update builds on YouTube’s AI age-estimation to place suspected minors in protected accounts, and Google now requires parental approval before a teen can disable supervision.