YouTube Launches Opt-In “Digital Well-Being” Feature Reminding Users To “Take A Break” From Videos

Gizmodo reports:

Google is well aware that YouTube is the internet’s biggest time suck, sending users down endless rabbit holes of related videos. Now, as part of the company’s apparent newfound interest in digital well-being, it’s introducing a feature that will encourage people to step away from the endless stream of videos—but only if they opt into it.

The new feature is accessible by visiting your profile on the YouTube mobile app and opening the Settings menu. Under the heading “YouTube” there is a setting labeled “Remind me to take a break.” The user can choose the frequency with which YouTube delivers this notification: never, or every 15, 30, 60, 90, or 180 minutes.

As the user must opt-in to the feature, few will use or even see it. According to YouTube, the average viewing session lasts more than 60 minutes, the majority of which is spent watching “recommended” clips not originally sought out by the user.