YouTube videos: You can never watch just one. It’s not your fault. YouTube does a great job of keeping you engaged by constantly offering tailor-made suggestions (and an aggressive autoplay system).
Photo: Max Pixel
Now, thanks to a new update, YouTube is finally admitting that too much of a good thing can be bad. Here’s how to use the service’s new “Remind me to take a break” feature to curb your YouTube addiction.
[referenced url=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/05/this-app-turns-youtube-into-curated-tv-stations-for-mindless-viewing/” thumb=”https://www.lifehacker.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/11/WatchingNoms-410×231.jpg” title=”This App Turns YouTube Into Curated TV Stations For Mindless Viewing” excerpt=”About a year ago, we started binge watching a single show at a time at my house. We typically pick something with at least four or five seasons, and then whenever we’re looking to “watch something” the answer is always the next episode of that show.”]
The first thing you’ll need to do is make sure you have the latest version of YouTube for iOS or Android.
Before you get distracted by the latest Marvel fan theory (or whatever YouTube’s algorithm think you’re interested in), tap on your profile pic in the top right corner. Tap on Settings and you should see a new option titled, “Remind me to take a break.”
Tap on this option, and you’ll be able to set YouTube to send you a friendly reminder to stop staring at your phone after a set amount of time (the options range from 15 minutes to two hours). You can now go back watching Fortnite videos (or cooking guides, or whatever else you might be into), knowing that YouTube has your back — unless you ignore its notification because you’re too busy watching a video.
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