YouTube has expanded its parental control tools for children's and teenagers' accounts. This includes new features that make it easier for parents to manage their children's online activities and restrict content for different age groups. The German technology portal 'Heise Online' explained that one of these changes is related to popular short videos known as 'Shorts,' which are vertical, short videos similar to those on the TikTok platform. Parents can now set a daily viewing time limit for their children's Shorts videos, as well as completely block them for at least a temporary period. This can be done in the YouTube app by going to Settings / Family Center / Parental Controls / selecting the child's or teenager's account, and then setting a daily viewing limit: for example, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or stopping after 0 minutes. Other settings include reminders that help establish a daily routine. These include: 'Take a break,' which reminds the user to stop after extended use of YouTube, and 'Bedtime,' which helps close the app in the evening. Users can find these options in the Parental Controls tools within the Family Center, which allows for centralized management of all settings for children's and teenagers' accounts, such as setting age groups, displaying accounts, and switching between multiple child accounts. Alternatives are also available; parents can use Google's Family Link parental control app to adjust settings for children's or teenagers' accounts, which in turn affects their YouTube accounts. Additionally, there is a separate YouTube Kids app for children under 13, which comes with pre-set restrictions.
