How to avoid losing sleep watching YouTube videos

Do you have the habit of watching YouTube videos in bed? Or are you one of those who start watching a video and then can't stop the player? A habit that has kept us company during the quarantine and now it is difficult to abandon.

YouTube doesn't want to blame you for missing your sleep and has created a new feature to remind you that it's time to turn off the screen and go to bed. We show you how you can set your bedtime on YouTube and how this dynamic works.

Set a reminder on YouTube to go to sleep

You'll find this new feature in two different sections of YouTube. You can go to Settings >> General, or Your viewing time >> Tools to manage the time you spend on YouTube.

Just select “Get bedtime reminder” and set when you want YouTube to remind you it's time to go to bedin alarm style.

As you can see in the image, you have the option to activate that the reminder is shown when the video you are watching at that moment ends. It may seem like a small detail, but it increases the chances that you'll want to detach yourself from the screen if the notification appears as soon as the video ends, so you won't have the excuse of “I'm done watching this video and I'm leaving my phone”.

How to change reminder settings

When the set time is reached, YouTube will show you a reminder like this:

Yes, you have the option to snooze the reminder by about 10 minutes, just like with the alarm. But you already know that this won't help you get away from YouTube, so be obedient and close the app. But if you want to make an exception and have a night without YouTube limits, you can change the schedule or cancel the reminder by following the link that takes you to Settings.

You may have noticed that the YouTube function not only asks you to set your bedtime but also to specify the entire period of time you will dedicate to your rest, for example from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. So if you open the YouTube app between those hours, the reminder dynamic will also be applied.