At the annual developer conference I/O 2018, Google CEO Sundar Pichai launched a new initiative. This is called “digital wellbeing”. It will help people get rid of their smartphone addiction. As part of the initiative, Google is rolling out various controls that will allow users to limit time spent on the phone. One of the first features focused on digital wellbeing is YouTube’s “Take a break” reminder.
More details about the feature:
This feature is available on the latest version of YouTube app. Here, users have the option to choose the frequency of the notification. The new feature will enable the users to set a reminder for every 15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 minutes. At that point, the video will pause and users will receive “Take a Break” notification. This will indicate that they have been binge-watching videos for longer than they decided to. There is also a “Never” option, which will disable the feature. After surpassing the time set by you, YouTube will pause the video you’re watching, with a notification to take a break. However, it’s up to the user if they want to take that suggestion or simply dismiss the reminder. The reminders will come with an option of being dismissed. Also, this feature will allow users to disable notification sounds during a specified time period each day.
How to access the feature:
You can access take a break feature by going to Settings > General, and the notifications feature is available at Settings > Notifications. The Take a Break and other notification features are available in the latest version (13.17.55) of the YouTube app.
At CES 2018, YouTube Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan had also stated that an average viewing session on YouTube lasts more than 60 minutes and 70 percent of the time, YouTube’s auto recommendation influences this. feature. The new, “Take a break” feature can help reduce that addiction.
Along with “Take a break”, YouTube also announced two more features, called “Disable sounds & vibrations” and “Scheduled Digest”.