YouTube is working on a set of new features like Short Scrolling. They are also part of a wider campaign to encourage healthier watching habits and prevent the common scrolling through forever. Thus, it facilitates excessive screen time. 

Not all the details have been explained for certain. However, the tools are scheduled to include reminders, how much people use, and possibly new limits. 

The updates are in hopes of giving users more control over the way they consume content on YouTube. They aim to use them as a means of fostering a more mindful experience with content on the platform.

Coming features to limit short usage

There are several tools being tested by YouTube. One potential feature is reminders. After a user has scrolled through the Shorts for a given time, these reminders will pop up.

A second idea is a daily cap for Shorts. They would allow the users to set how much amount of time they are willing to spend watching the Shorts each day. 

A “take a break” prompt may also be introduced by YouTube. It appears periodically as users watch Shorts. This would compel them to stop and do something else.

Motivation Behind Limiting Short Consumption

YouTube likely has several of these potential reasons. Tech companies are beginning to worry about user well-being. Excessive screen time is also often recommended to be reduced.

In which case, endless scrolling can also result in user fatigue. At heart, YouTube could hope to increase that overall user satisfaction.

Also, it may give reasons based on its business. Making endless users watch short-form content will lead to less engagement from longer-form videos. 

Current Tools for Managing YouTube Time

There are some currently available tools for managing watch time on YouTube. There is the ability for users to set reminders to take a break during regular video watching. In addition, they can view their watch history.

In particular, these new features would be aimed at Shorts. The consumption structure of shorts is different from that of regular videos. So they are meant to quickly and continuously view it.

User Reaction and Potential Impact

Individuals will have mixed reactions to these potential changes. And some users might like tools to patronize them when it comes to screen time. These features might be intrusive to anyone else.

Also uncertain is the impact on usage on Shorts. That will depend on how theses features are carried out. It will also rely on user adoption. If users use these tools, then endless scrolling may be reduced.

Future of Short-Form Video Consumption

The efforts of YouTube are part of a larger trend. Short form video is becoming very addictive, making many platforms question how they should approach short form video. 

Such potential features can be important to other platforms when they start to consider short-form content. It may change the way users consume and use time on these platforms. But responsible design in short-form video could be made more of an experiment by YouTube’s experiments.

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