Linus Tech Tips praises YouTube for adding “huge” new feature

Linus Tech Tips creator Linus Sebastian has praised a new YouTube parental control option that allows families to block or limit access to YouTube Shorts, saying the added customization is a major improvement for parents managing screen time.

The comments were made during a discussion on the WAN Show about YouTube’s evolving safety tools, with Sebastian highlighting how the platform now offers more granular control over the short-form video feed specifically, rather than requiring parents to restrict the entire app.

Linus says Shorts control is a major change for families

“I think the biggest one for me was actually the parental controls,” he said. “I can now have the granularity to turn off shorts or limit shorts directly for my dependents, which is huge. Thank you because I don’t mind my kids using YouTube at all. I do mind a lot them doom scrolling shorts.

“Shorts are a different thing. It’s a different beast entirely.”

Sebastian went on to compare modern concerns about short-form content to past moral panics over new media formats.

“Yeah, I do feel a little bit as every generation goes through this. Books were once the devil and an idol pastime that rotted your brain, and then it was radio, and then it was TV, and then it was video games and then and then and then and then and so, you know, I’m sitting here going, ‘Well, you know, I grew up with YouTube and I turned out okay.’ Uh, but these shorts, these shorts are bad. They’ll rot your brain.”

(Topic starts at 6:47 in video)

YouTube has continued expanding its family-focused features in recent years, including supervised accounts, content filters, and screen time tools.

The Google-owned company has announced quite a few new features and plans for the platform lately, with CEO Neal Mohan revealing how they want to make YouTube “perfect” for content creators as they combat “AI slop.”