Empowering Canadian Families: New Teen Wellbeing Tools on YouTube
As a physician and parent, I know that guiding teens through the digital world is a top priority for families. YouTube is where teens come to watch what they love—whether it's brushing up on their studies, catching up with their favorite creators, or finding epic sports highlights. Our approach has always been to protect kids in the digital world, not from the digital world.
When speaking to families and partners, we hear a consistent message: Parents want better tools to guide their teens' digital habits. Today, we are announcing new features launching across Canada to give parents more control and to support teen digital wellbeing.
Here is what’s new for Canadian families:
- Control the Scroll: Parents now have controls over YouTube Shorts. You can set specific daily time limits for scrolling the Shorts feed—including setting it down to zero. Decrease the time limit during homework time, or extend the minutes for a long car ride. This is an industry-first feature that puts parents firmly in control of the amount of short-form content their kids watch. The Shorts feed timer is now available to parents of supervised accounts via Family Center in the YouTube app, and will begin rolling out as an option to all accounts in the coming weeks.
- Higher Quality Recommendations: We want teens to see the best of what YouTube has to offer. In partnership with child development experts, we’ve developed new principles and a creator guide that actively steer our recommendation system to surface fun, age-appropriate, and enriching content for younger audiences.
- Simplified Setup: Getting the family on the right track shouldn't be a chore. Now live in Canada, parents will see a streamlined sign-up process that makes creating kid accounts and switching between family profiles effortless. 1
We are committed to making YouTube a safe, inspiring place for the next generation to explore, learn, and build a healthy relationship with technology.
