To stop watching YouTube Shorts, treat it as a habit to break, not just a setting to change. Shorts have no stopping point and unpredictable rewards, so put the barrier at the first tap, not the fiftieth swipe. On your phone, set a Shorts feed limit in the YouTube app under Settings, Time management (it is a dismissible reminder, not a lock). On your computer, block only the youtube.com/shorts path so regular videos keep working. Then change the habit: write an if-then plan such as "If I reach for Shorts, then I will stand up and refill my water," and replace Shorts with a better short break. Redirect, the Chrome extension, can block the Shorts path and send you to your goals instead, catching clicks from the home page too. It works in Chrome and Chromium browsers only, keeps data local and is free for one site.
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Last updated September 2026.
You open YouTube for one tutorial. You notice a Short in the sidebar, tap it, and suddenly it is 40 minutes later and you cannot name a single thing you watched. That is not a character flaw. Shorts are designed so that stopping is the hardest part. The good news is that you can keep YouTube for the useful stuff and cut Shorts out, if you change both the habit and the setup.
Why YouTube Shorts are so hard to stop#
A few features work together to make the Shorts feed sticky:
- No natural stopping point. A regular video ends. A feed of short clips never does, so there is no moment where you have to decide to keep going.
- Unpredictable rewards. Some clips are boring, some are great, and you never know which is next. That uncertainty is exactly what keeps a thumb moving.
- Tiny commitment per clip. Each Short is only a few seconds, so "one more" always feels cheap. The cost only shows up when you add them together.
- Easy entry points. Shorts show up on the home page, in search results and in the sidebar, so you often land in the feed without deciding to.
That last point matters most. If you only fight the feed once you are in it, you are fighting at the moment your self-control is weakest. It is much easier to stop the first tap than the fiftieth swipe.
Is YouTube Shorts addiction real?#
"Addiction" is used loosely here, and it is not a formal diagnosis. But if you keep watching Shorts longer than you meant to, feel foggy afterward, and have tried to cut down without success, the pattern is worth taking seriously. You do not need a label to decide you want your evenings back.
What helps is the same thing that helps with most sticky habits: remove the easy entry, add friction to the moment of choice, and plan what you will do instead.
Step one: use YouTube's own tools#
YouTube now has a few built-in controls. They are worth turning on, with realistic expectations.
1. Set a Shorts feed limit in the app
In the YouTube mobile app, go to You, then Settings, then Time management, then Shorts feed limit. According to YouTube Help, you pick from a list of limits, including zero. When you reach it, a message reminds you, and you can dismiss it and keep watching. So it is a reminder, not a lock. It is still a useful speed bump, especially set to a low number.
2. Tell YouTube you want fewer Shorts
On the home page's Shorts shelf, YouTube offers a "Show fewer Shorts" option, and you can mark individual videos "Not interested" or pick "Don't recommend channel" (YouTube Help). Keep expectations modest. A 2022 Mozilla Foundation study of data from 22,722 volunteers found that "Not interested" prevented only about 11% of unwanted recommendations, while "Don't recommend channel" prevented about 43%.
3. Consider turning off watch history
YouTube's help page says that if you do not want video recommendations on Home, you can delete and turn off your watch history. That removes a lot of the bait that pulls you in. The tradeoff is that you lose personalized suggestions you might actually like, so this suits people who mostly search for what they want.
Here is how the options compare:
| Option | Where it works | What it does | Can you ignore it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shorts feed limit | YouTube mobile app | Reminder when you hit your daily Shorts time | Yes, the reminder is dismissible |
| Show fewer Shorts, Not interested | YouTube app and site | Nudges recommendations | Only partly effective |
| Watch history off | Your YouTube account | Removes Home recommendations | Yes, turn it back on anytime |
| Redirect path rule for youtube.com/shorts | Chrome and Chromium browsers | Sends Shorts pages to your goals | Only through the pause task you choose |
Step two: block only Shorts on your computer#
On a laptop, the most effective move is to make Shorts pages simply stop opening, while the rest of YouTube keeps working. That is what a path rule does.
Redirect is a Chrome extension that sends distracting pages to your goals instead of a blocked wall. With a path rule for youtube.com/shorts, any Shorts URL redirects to your Focus dashboard (or a page you choose), and normal videos, search and subscriptions keep working.
It also handles the sneaky part. YouTube changes pages without a full reload, so some blockers miss it when you click a Short from the home page. Redirect catches this in-app navigation and redirects right away.
1. Install Redirect and open the dashboard
Add Redirect to Chrome or any Chromium browser (Arc, Brave, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi). Press Alt+Shift+F to open the dashboard.
2. Add a path rule for youtube.com/shorts
Create a rule for the path youtube.com/shorts rather than the whole site. This blocks Shorts only. Redirect is free for one site, so Shorts can be your one rule, with Pro and Lifetime plans if you want more (see pricing).
3. Set your goals
Add up to three goals on your Focus dashboard. When a Short tries to open, this is what you see instead. Something concrete helps: "Finish chapter 3" or "Go for a walk."
4. Choose a pause task, or none
If you want the option to watch Shorts sometimes, allow pauses with a task in front of them. The reason prompt works well for Shorts because it makes you name why ("bored," "procrastinating"), and it shows your past reasons back to you. For a firmer line, use the typing challenge. If you want Shorts gone completely, keep pauses short and set a low daily pause limit.
5. Keep pauses short with a daily pause limit
Pick a short pause length, such as 5 or 10 minutes, and a daily pause limit of one or two. When the pause ends, Redirect sends you back even if you are mid scroll. A small floating timer shows how long is left, so the end does not come as a surprise. The same pause length plus daily pause limit setup can cap all of YouTube too, as shown in how to limit YouTube time on Chrome.
6. Add a schedule if evenings are fine
If Shorts are only a problem during work or study, add a schedule so the rule runs on weekdays during your focus hours and leaves your evenings alone.
Step three: change the habit, not just the settings#
Settings reduce exposure. The habit shifts when you decide in advance what to do with the urge.
- Write an if-then plan. Research on implementation intentions shows that simple plans like "If I reach for Shorts, then I will stand up and refill my water" make follow-through more likely. Put your "then" as one of your Focus dashboard goals.
- Replace, do not just remove. Shorts fill a need: a break, a laugh, something new. Give yourself a better short break, like a walk around the block or a single long video you actually chose.
- Watch for the trigger. Most Shorts sessions start when a task gets hard or boring. Noticing "this is the hard part" is half the work.
There is good evidence that a small pause changes behavior on its own. In a 2023 PNAS study of the one sec app, people closed a target app in 36% of attempts after a short pause, and opened those apps 37% less often after six weeks. You do not need a perfect ban. You need a moment to choose.
How to stop watching Reels and Shorts together#
The same pattern works across short-video feeds. On your computer, add rules for Instagram and TikTok alongside Shorts; see block Instagram and block TikTok. On your phone, use each app's own limits, since Redirect is a Chrome extension and has no mobile app.
If your real problem is YouTube as a whole, including long videos and autoplay, read how to stop the YouTube rabbit hole next.
The bottom line#
Shorts are built to be easy to start and hard to stop, so put the barrier at the start. Turn on YouTube's Shorts feed limit on your phone, block the youtube.com/shorts path on your computer, keep any exceptions short and capped, and decide ahead of time what you will do instead. YouTube stays useful, and the feed loses its grip.
Sources
- YouTube Help, Set a Shorts feed limit (checked September 2026)
- YouTube Help, Manage your recommendations and search results (checked September 2026)
- Mozilla Foundation (2022), Does This Button Work? Investigating YouTube's ineffective user controls (checked September 2026)
- Grüning, Riedel and Lorenz-Spreen (2023), Directing smartphone use through the self-nudge app one sec, PNAS (checked September 2026)
- Gollwitzer (1999), Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans, American Psychologist (checked September 2026)
Close the tab. Open your goals.
Redirect sends distracting sites to the goals you wrote down, and makes every pause a choice.
Questions, answered
Can I block YouTube Shorts but keep regular YouTube?
Yes. In Chrome, a path rule for youtube.com/shorts blocks only Shorts pages. Redirect supports this and also catches clicks into Shorts from the home page, while normal videos, search and subscriptions keep working.
Does YouTube have a Shorts time limit?
Yes, in the YouTube mobile app. Go to You, Settings, Time management, Shorts feed limit, and pick a limit, including zero. When you reach it you get a reminder that you can dismiss, so it is a nudge rather than a lock.
Does "Not interested" stop Shorts recommendations?
Only partly. A 2022 Mozilla Foundation study found "Not interested" prevented about 11% of unwanted recommendations and "Don't recommend channel" about 43%. Blocking the Shorts path is far more reliable on a computer.
How do I quit a YouTube Shorts addiction?
Remove the easy entry points, add a pause before the feed, and plan what you will do instead when the urge hits. On a computer, blocking youtube.com/shorts and redirecting to your goals handles the first two; an if-then plan handles the third.
Does Redirect block Shorts on my phone?
No. Redirect is a Chrome extension for Chrome and Chromium browsers on your computer and has no mobile app. On your phone, use the Shorts feed limit in the YouTube app.