At its Google I/O conference this week, the tech giant introduced a series of new controls for YouTube to help users find it easy to set limits on their viewing, and then get reminders telling them to “take a break.” As a matter of fact, YouTube is actually the first video streaming app that will ask its users to stop watching and take a break.
Need a breather?
If you’d like, set a reminder to take a break every 15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 minutes. The reminder will pause your video until you dismiss it or choose to resume playing the video, here are the steps → https://t.co/om3eZFZa56 pic.twitter.com/caEJvSpC68
— Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) May 8, 2018
In addition to other features that limit its ability to send notifications, this new feature is being unveiled in the latest version of YouTube’s app. The idea behind the introduction of this tool is to encourage users to be more responsible about their viewing habits.
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About the “Take a Break” Feature
With the “Take a Break” feature, users can now set a reminder to appear every 15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 minutes, at which point the video will pause. Additionally, users can then choose to either dismiss the reminder and keep watching, or close the app.
However, the setting is turned off by default and optional. Users can also disable notification sounds for a specified time period daily (e.g from night until the next morning).
There is also an option for getting a scheduled digest of notifications as an alternative. This setting combines all the daily push notifications into a single combined notification that is sent out only once daily. This is option is also off by default, but can be turned on in the YouTube app’s settings.
These changes are not only interesting, but will help users manage addictive behaviours relating to their use of technology.
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The “Take a Break” feature is at the very top of its Settings screen. It is available in version 13.17 and higher of the YouTube mobile app on both iOS and Android.
The changes will take a few days to roll out to all YouTube users.
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