The video streaming site from the house of Google, YouTube, could be the first such app that will remind its users to stop watching after binge-watching videos for a long period of time.
In a product update, the company said that they “want to help everyone better understand their tech usage, disconnect when needed, and create healthy habits.”
The company is introducing a slew of tools to help everyone develop their own sense of digital wellbeing. They include 'take a break' reminder, scheduled notification digest, disable notification sound and vibration and 'time-watched profile'. All these tools, except the last, are part of version 13.17+.
Take a break reminder: This feature will allow users to set a reminder to notify to take a break at a pre-set timer. Just set the reminder to appear every 15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 minutes, and your video will pause at that interval until you dismiss it or resume playing the video.
The feature is “off” by default and in order to activate it, tap on account icon at the top right corner. Go to Setting > General > Remind me to take a break > Select the desired time.
Scheduled notification digest: Traumatised by the barrage of YouTube push notifications? You can now instruct YouTube to send bundled notifications at a pre-set time. Tap on account icon > Settings > Notifications > Scheduled digest > Select a desired delivery time.
Disable notification sounds and vibrations: This feature ensures that notifications from the YouTube app are sent silently to your phone during a specified time period each day. By default, all sounds and vibrations will be disabled between 10 pm and 8 am. Tap on account icon > Setting > Notifications > Disable sounds & vibrations > Select desired start and end time.
Time watched profile: This feature is not yet released but will be coming soon. Using this, you will be able to have a better understanding of the time you spend on YouTube. The feature will be found in the Account menu.
As we are spending more and more time on our mobile devices, it is important to keep our eyes healthy and sleep pattern intact so that the YouTube cat content doesn’t leave one crying. The tools above would certainly make a user make informed decisions about one’s usage habits.
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