All of it. Just kidding. I equally spread it between YouTube, TikTok and the three in a row. Though I believe YouTube should be erased completely from the equation, as I need it for work and my hobbies and don’t forget about videos on cryptocurrency and NFT. You can’t consider education to be a time waste, can you? Yes, I haven’t utilized what I’ve learnt yet, but I will!
Sounds familiar? I hope so because if this sounds familiar only to me, I’m a pathetic human being. The number of educational videos on YouTube is getting ridiculous and people still watch all of them. Educational procrastination, a term I have just invented because I couldn’t find an actual term, means that instead of doing a job you’re watching how someone doing a job. Then the video ends and you watch another one that differs only slightly from the previous one and never use any of them in practice. Failing in something is scary, not doing anything is also scary so we imitate action with contemplation and don’t feel so bad about ourselves. And you also have learnt to watch YouTube without ads on iPhone so nothing distracting you anymore. But are you brave enough to face your addiction and learn how much time you blow on YouTube? I assume yes, since you’ve clicked on this article, so follow me I’ll show you how to open that box of embarrassment.
Check spending time in your account
In the year 2018, Google announced its digital wellbeing initiative aimed at encouraging people to use their smartphones less. The part of that initiative was a YouTube video view tracker that shows the time you spend on the app during the seven-day period, today specifically, and the daily average. As ironic as it sounds, they presented that new feature with YouTube video. We are not that malicious, so here the text guide where to find it in your iPhone:
– tap the YouTube app icon
– tap your profile icon in the top right corner
– tap Time watched.
That’s it.
Feature “Remind Me to Take a Break”
In a world where we need a special app to remind us to drink water and a smartwatch to remind us to breathe properly, it’s only logical to have an app telling us to stop using it. I wish there were an app telling me not to finish a family pack of chips single handedly.
Though I don’t use it, I find this feature extremely helpful. There is no shame in admitting a lack of control. Some people can have neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD that make it challenging to stop binge-watching willingly, some can struggle with depression or other mental problems. The point is asking for assistance is normal and thanks to Google we can be our own assistants. To enable the feature, do the following:
– open the YouTube app
– tap your profile icon
– tap Time watched
– tap toggle Remind me to take a break and choose how often you want the reminder to pop-up.
Use ad blockers service to save the time
And nerves, I’d like to add. There is no bigger frustration than to tap on a video accidentally while scrolling and not being able to stop it or minimize because the ad is already running. This usually makes me so mad that I forget what I was actually looking for. I’m rebellious against the YouTube Premium only because it feels like they are pushing you towards it. I mean, I give ALL the information about myself and still I rarely get relevant advertising. That’s why I stick to AdLock – the best ad blocker in the history of humanity, but you already know this.
Apart from the main feature, AdLock offers other various perks:
– Malware and spyware detection and prevention
– Privacy protection
– Extensive list of Safari-specific filters
– Endless opportunities for fine tuning
– All above without jailbreaking!
We don’t want you to get upset over the unsolicited advertising and we want you to have options, so our team has developed not one but two solutions for your ad-free YouTube leisure time.
- Disable YouTube ads using AdLock script:
– Launch Safari
– Go to youtube.com
– Tap the “Share” button
– Choose “Block YouTube ads
- Use AdLock player for watching YouTube—simple and convenient solution without extra hassle:
– Launch the native YouTube app
– Choose the video to watch
– Tap “Share” under the video
– Then tap “AdLock player”.
Turn off Autoplay Next Video toggle
Smartest way to regulate Watch hours of YouTube is to disable autoplay. Yes, you’ll miss that sweet rabbit hole when you start with a guide on how to fix a zipper and end on a three-hour lection on potato famine in Ireland but we are trying to get rid of your addiction and we need to sacrifice something. To turn off autoplay, do next:
– open the YouTube app
– tap your profile icon
– tap Settings
– tap Autoplay, then tap the autoplay switch to the off position to turn off the feature.
How to curb your YouTube addiction
I wish there were a magic pill that would make you productive just like that, but it’s never going to happen because the mafia of Instagram coaches killing-off every scientist who’s working on it. Curbing YouTube addiction requires your desire, will and a few prep steps.
- Turn off notifications and get rid of the temptation to watch a new video immediately after release. I doubt there is any YouTube video which actuality will expire in a couple of hours.
- Choose time periods during the day when you allow yourself to watch YouTube, e.g. 15 minutes during breakfast, one hour at lunch, 1,5 hour in the evening. Tune to meet your needs.
- When watching educational videos take notes, hence it won’t be leisure time anymore. Also, don’t watch another educational video on the same matter until you apply acquired knowledge from the previous video in practice.
- Only watch videos from creators you are subscribed to. No new videos yet? Then no YouTube! Treat it like a TV in your childhood. You haven’t watched it when there were no cartoons on a TV guide.
That’s all, folks! Hope you’ve enjoyed my work and found it helpful.
