YouTube can be very addictive, and Google is perhaps the first streaming app company that will actually help users to stop watching the videos.
The company at its I/O conference this week, announced a series of new control features for YouTube that will allow watchers to have a time limit on their viewing, and to receive reminders to “take a break” from watching the videos.
Along with YouTube’s notifications, will be another new feature that will give users an overview of their usage so that they can make better-informed decisions about their viewing habits.
The “Take a Break” feature will be available from YouTube’s mobile app Settings screen, whereby users can set a timer in the sequence of 15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 minutes, at which interval the video will stop. Though users can dismiss the reminder to keep watching, or close the app if they feel they've spent much time already.
Additionally, there's a feature that lets you disable notification sounds within a time period each day, and it will, by default, disable itself from 10 PM to 8 AM local time, but you can change the settings.
YouTube will be rolling out a “time watched profile” within the Account menu to display users daily average watch time, and how long they’ve watched YouTube videos, along with a set of tools to help them manage their viewing habits.
These changes, however are available as opt-in, and in the case of the “Take a Break” feature, it's at the very top of the Settings screen. Albeit, it's only available in YouTube mobile app version 13.17 and higher on both iOS and Android, though some of the features are still rolling out.
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