YouTube is undoubtedly one of the best websites to kill time and consume content across different categories. However, with the abundant supply of content, one often loses track and ends up spending a lot of time watching YouTube videos. If you’re one of them, this one is for you. Here is how you can stop wasting time on YouTube.

We’ve included a browser extension, settings you can change inside the YouTube app, app timers, and a few tips based on our usage. If you often find yourself spending hours mindlessly watching whatever YouTube algorithm throws at you, read on till the end to know how you can take control over your YouTube watching habits and spend less time on the platform.

  • Using YouTube Rabbit Hole Extension
  • Using Break and Bedtime Reminders
  • Using App Timers
  • Practical Tips Without Third-Party Apps

1. Using YouTube Rabbit Hole Extension

Download YouTube Rabbit Hole (Free)

In May 2018, YouTube added a break reminder feature on its mobile apps to help users take breaks. Similarly, the company brought bedtime reminders last May to urge users to hit the bed. However, not all users are aware of these and end up not setting up these much-needed features.

3. Using App Timers

If you are at a point where you need an extra push to disconnect from YouTube, you can rely on one of the app timers to lock you out of YouTube once you’ve exhausted your daily usage limit. You can use Android’s Digital wellbeing feature or iPhone’s screen time feature to achieve this. One third-party app that does this task well is Freedom. You’ll find more app timer apps and websites in our coverage of the best focus apps.

Apart from all these, here are the methods I follow to make sure that I don’t waste a lot of time on YouTube. First up, you should introspect your content consumption habits. A good place to start would be to unsubscribe channels that you no longer find interesting or valuable enough to spend your time on.

If the platform keeps suggesting videos you’re not interested in and you don’t want to use the YouTube rabbit hole extension, you can click ‘Not interested’ or ‘Don’t recommend channel’ options to remove them on both PC and mobile. While this is intended to curate your recommendation feed, you can use it to your advantage by clicking ‘Not interested’ on addictive content and videos that don’t necessarily add value.