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YouTube users get option to set their Shorts time limit to zero minutes

theverge.com

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Re: YouTube users get option to set their Shorts time limit to zero minutes

#81

Post by jldugger »

idle_zealot wrote: post #9
savanaly wrote: post #8

>YouTube now lets you turn off Shorts No it doesn't. If you were hoping it would mean you don't see shorts when you visit the Youtube home page, that's not what this is. I just tried the thing mentioned in the article-- set my Shorts time limit to 0 minutes. What it does is make it so if you click a short from somewhere the short plays, but then if you try to swipe to the next one it hits you with the "You reached yo…

Classic "self regulation" of an addictive product. "You look like you might have a problem with self-control, here are tools for managing yourself better" while admitting no fault and continuing with all of the hooks and barbs, design and advertising built to addict as many people as possible.

Technically I think it's for parents to regulate their kids.

Re: YouTube users get option to set their Shorts time limit to zero minutes

#82

Post by mrandish »

leptons wrote: post #20
savanaly wrote: post #8

>YouTube now lets you turn off Shorts No it doesn't. If you were hoping it would mean you don't see shorts when you visit the Youtube home page, that's not what this is. I just tried the thing mentioned in the article-- set my Shorts time limit to 0 minutes. What it does is make it so if you click a short from somewhere the short plays, but then if you try to swipe to the next one it hits you with the "You reached yo…

"Shorts" is the #1 reason I switched to the SmartTube app on my Chromecast. No more Shorts. It also has other great features that are well beyond what the Youtube app lets you do to customize the expernience. And then I realized, it also blocks all the ads. I was a Youtube subscriber, but they alienated me with their "Shorts", so I switched apps, and then I cancelled my subscription. Most of big tech is too big. It's…

Yep, SmartTube is great.

Re: YouTube users get option to set their Shorts time limit to zero minutes

#83

Post by calmbonsai »

Not related to many prior posts on HN, The Verge is not to be trusted with technical FAANG editorial content. They're either ignorant, stupid, or "playing stupid" due to prior "pay for play", under the table, and/or blatant advertiser-conflicting arrangements.

Also not related to prior YT posts. The secret to sanity with YT content is to never consume it on YT. FreeTube, yt-dlp, etc. are your friends.

Re: YouTube users get option to set their Shorts time limit to zero minutes

#85

Post by Cider9986 »

registeredcorn wrote: post #49
Cider9986 wrote: post #35

Before I quit YouTube, this was my setup. Brave Shields[1] - Adblock SponsorBlock[2] - Crowd-sourced skip sponsored segments DeArrow[3] - Make thumbnails not clickbait UnTrap[4] - Remove shorts and make UI amazing. Return Youtube Dislike[5] I deleted my Google account and now occasionally use Invidious with LibRedirect[6] to watch YT videos. Importing subscriptions into Invidious was a helpful stepping stone. [1] htt…

When you say "quit YouTube", do you mean you replaced it with a different service? Or do you simply mean you deleted your account? I've been hoping for more competition on alternative platforms, but everything that I've tried has failed to reach any kind of reasonable user base. Lots of bot videos. A few schizo uploads. Stolen movies, etc. It feels like the earliest versions of YouTube and it's been a struggle to put…

I watch probably 95% less videos than before I "quit youtube". I never visit youtube.com and I deleted all my google accounts. I still have my subscriptions saved in a few Invidious instances and I occasionally check them.

I haven't really looked into any alt platforms besides interacting a little. This peertube instance[1] has a good experience but it only has a few channels. I might look more into peertube now that you mention it.

I like videos for entertainment, but for information it is a timesuck.

[1] neat.tube

Re: YouTube users get option to set their Shorts time limit to zero minutes

#86

Post by JeremyNT »

ButlerianJihad wrote: post #63

The funny thing here, and I'm sure YT was counting on this, is that I wouldn't really be open to hiding/disabling Shorts anymore. Because despite most of my subscriptions being channels which publish long-form content, I also have begun to follow some channels which exclusively publish in the Shorts format, and as you know, it's not strictly necessary to subscribe to a channel in order to follow it. So sometimes I le…

I agree. Shorts aren't inherently bad but the way they're sort of half as integrated in the UI just feels clunky and weird.

They should allow you to treat shorts like normal videos and have them ranked directly against them in e.g. search results. Or, they should let you completely separate them so you have essentially a totally different app.

Re: YouTube users get option to set their Shorts time limit to zero minutes

#87

Post by Cider9986 »

calmbonsai wrote: post #83

Not related to many prior posts on HN, The Verge is not to be trusted with technical FAANG editorial content. They're either ignorant, stupid, or "playing stupid" due to prior "pay for play", under the table, and/or blatant advertiser-conflicting arrangements. Also not related to prior YT posts. The secret to sanity with YT content is to never consume it on YT. FreeTube, yt-dlp, etc. are your friends.

>Not related to many prior posts on HN, The Verge is not to be trusted with technical FAANG editorial content. They're either ignorant, stupid, or "playing stupid" due to prior "pay for play", under the table, and/or blatant advertiser-conflicting arrangements.

Do you have any links that could give me more info on this?

Re: YouTube users get option to set their Shorts time limit to zero minutes

#88

Post by Carrok »

jldugger wrote: post #81
idle_zealot wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classic "self regulation" of an addictive product. "You look like you might have a problem with self-control, here are tools for managing yourself better" while admitting no fault and continuing with all of the hooks and barbs, design and advertising built to addict as many people as possible.

Technically I think it's for parents to regulate their kids.

I'm confused why you're bringing up parents and kids. Are you implying only children might have problems with self-control wrt media consumption?

Re: YouTube users get option to set their Shorts time limit to zero minutes

#89

Post by Cider9986 »

preinheimer wrote: post #37

I find short form content really addictive. It’s so easy for me to lose half an hour to it, and at the end just feel like I’ve wasted my time. Lacking better options I’ve turned on parental controls on my phone to block YouTube, and installed an extension to remove shorts from the site on my laptop. I wish sites provided more real options.

If you ever want to go more hardcore into keeping distracting apps off your phone I recommend checking out MDM for your device.

At least on iOS you could connect a mac and then use Apple Configurator to block installing new apps. This made it so you would have to use your Mac to enable installing new apps, creating a large amount of friction.

When I used iOS I used this method to create a "smart dumbhone" because you could have smart apps like mapping, without a browser or the ability to install distracting apps.

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